Marmee Blake
by Rayrawl
Summary: THIS IS NOT A TVD STORY. Sorry, i just needed a place to put this, there isn't a catagory for it. It does have vampires and sex and all the good things though, or it will eventually : Anita Blake story, set after Hit List - What happens if Anita finds out she is having a baby, and how will the men in her life react? Hell, how will her entire life work with this happening?
1. Chapter 1

**As i said in the little paragaph introduction thingy, this is not a TVD story. We're not supposed to write stories written by the author of this series, so i'm hiding it here and hoping none of you tattle on me.**

**Anywho, this is an Anita Blake story, set after Hit List. What happens if Anita finds out she is having a baby, and for once in her life it might actually work out? And how will all the men feel about it?**

**Please let me know how you feel about this, i'm not even sure about it myself but the plot line wont get out of my head. Mucho gracias.  
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'Bastard. Shit. Motherfucker.' I was sat on the floor of my bathroom at home, all the men were at work, the entire pard was doing something today, which was unusual. Good for me though. Really good for me today. It was getting close to dusk, and if I wanted to keep this little piece of news to myself for now, then I'd have to put my shields up real tight before the vampires rose for the night, but I just couldn't find the concentration to do it. The little plastic stick with it's double blue lines stared up at me from where I'd dropped it between my knees on the floor.

Well, shit. I'd had a pregnancy scare before, and that had been a false positive on a stick just like this one, but I'd only been a month late then. This was more like two and a half, almost three, and I'd never been that late in my entire life. Then again, I'd never been a month late in my life until the last time, and I'd not been pregnant that time. Maybe the same could be said for this time. Maybe. Hopefully. Shit.

I felt Jean-Claude wake for the night so suddenly in my head that it startled me and let me know just how down my metaphysical shields were. I fought to slam them back into place, to pull towers and sheets of metal into my mind before he got a look at what was going on there, but I was too slow. He caught a glimpse in my mind just before I slammed him out. He knew. Double shit. I didn't know if Jean-Claude would ring me, or drive over. Hell, maybe he'd fly over. That was the quickest way, and it was just dark enough out for him to do it, too. Either way, I had to be up off this floor before I talked to him. Gingerly, I picked up that traitorous little piece of plastic up off the floor and carried it through with me into the kitchen, where I left it on the table while I made coffee. Coffee would help. Coffee good. Anything else, bad.

Ten minutes and one full cup of coffee later, there was a knock on the door. I knew it was Jean-Claude because I felt that it was him, and he must have flown, because damn that was fast. Sighing, I stood up and walked through the kitchen and living room to unlock the front door for him. He stood there, perfect in his leather pants that looked painted on, the boots that he knew I loved laced all the way up the back of his legs to the top of his thighs. The shirt was white and silk, as usual, and the jacket he wore was the one I'd gotten him last Christmas, longer than the ones he usually wore, but velvet and nice and expensive all the same. His beautiful sculpted face was blank, he had that pleasant smile and blank eyes that I knew was his face when he was hiding his emotions from me. His shields were slammed shut as tightly as mine where, I had no idea how he was feeling and he was waiting for me to start talking as I led him through the house and back into the kitchen. I so did not know how to do this.

'I wouldn't have told you that way. I was trying to close my shields when you woke up.' Jean-Claude just nodded and folded himself into one of the kitchen table seats, opposite where I had been sat. With a sigh, I returned to my own seat and raised my eyes to meet his. As always, they were the darkest blue I'd ever seen without a hint of black, his double row of thick black lashes framed them perfectly.

'Maybe it's just like last time, a false positive.' I said to him across the table, but I could hear the doubt in my own voice, I knew he'd heard it too.

'Do you really believe that, _ma petite_?' He asked me, his voice as blank and as lovely as his face. I sighed and dropped my eyes from his, staring very intently into my empty coffee cup. It was one of the penguin ones that Micah had brought back from a trip.

'No, I don't think that's true this time.' I said, still not meeting his eyes.

'How many months have you missed?' Jean-Claude asked from across the table.

'Two and a half months, nearly three.' I mumbled back at him. He spent a moment considering that, he'd known me long enough and we'd been having sex long enough that he knew that was very unlike me. I heard him stand and take the few steps until he was beside my chair, I still refused to look up at him, but now it was because there were tears in my eyes. Damn it, I hate to cry.

'_Ma petite.._' I saw him hold a hand out to me in my peripheral vision but I tried to ignore it, I did not want to be held. I'd cry if I was held right now. Apparently, Jean-Claude didn't give a single shit about me crying though, and he unwrapped my hand from my mug and gave a tug on it. I looked up at him then, his face was now a mixture of concern, and another emotion I couldn't quite place, but it was enough. I threw myself into his arms and he caught me, held me like I knew he would. The tears came in a hot spill and ruined his perfect silk shirt and yet he still held me. He whispered French sweetness into my ear and ran soothing hands through my hair and over my back. I knew enough to know that he was telling me it would be okay, it would all be okay, he would not let anything happen to me.

Micah and Nathanial came home about an hour later, I'd stopped crying only about 15 minutes ago and was now curled up in Jean-Claude's lap on the sofa. We hadn't spoken about pregnancy or tests or babies, nothing at all actually. He had just held me and let me get it out, because he knew that it would be so much harder soon, because he wasn't the only man in my life that needed to know. So many other people needed to know about this. Nathanial was laughing at something Micah had said as they came through the door, they both looked as lovely as always. Micah's suit was black and perfectly fitted, making him look older. Nathanial was in his dance class clothes and had all that long auburn hair back in a braid that fell to his ankles. They both turned to us cuddling on the sofa and a moment later they stopped laughing and crossed the room to us. Something on my face or the way I was wrapped around Jean-Claude had told them that something was wrong. Nathanial leaned over the back of the sofa and Micah knelt in front of us, balancing himself with his hands on Jean-Claude's knees.

'Anita, what's happened?' Micah asked carefully, his face full of concern, I looked back over my shoulder and looked at Nathanial's face, which had worry plastered all over it. That was all it took, suddenly I was crying again and I fell from Jean-Claude's knees and into Micah's waiting lap. His arms went around me and he let me cry into him for a little while until he pulled back a little. Tears where still making tracks down my face.

'Sweetheart, what's wrong?' Micah asked carefully. Nathanial had moved to kneel beside us and I felt Jean-Claud as a reassuring weight at my back. I took a deep breath but couldn't raise my eyes to meet Micah's beautiful yellow-green leopard eyes.

'I think..' I paused and tried to think of how to word this to them. I must have stopped for too long because Nathanial reached out and touched my shoulder. Jean-Claude also put a hand against my neck and whispered '_Ma petite' _at me. I took another deep breath and tried to continue.

'I think.. I think I'm pregnant.' It all came out as one long rush of breath and then I froze, waiting for their reactions.

When no one had said anything for more than a minute, I looked up. Micah's face was as careful and guarded as usual when he was trying to process something big like this. Nathanial was grinning. I mean, really grinning. Grinning so hard it looks like his face was alight. I wanted to glare at him, be angry at him for being happy about this, but I couldn't. I couldn't because it was so uncommon to see a true grin from Nathanial, and because it was contagious. He was so happy and it made a dent into my shields, let me let them down a little and let some of that happiness trickle into me. I looked up at him again, and couldn't help but give him a smile back.

That smile let Micah relax a little, I felt some tension leave Jean-Claude and I let myself be cuddled between the three of them. It was Micah who talked first, asking all the questions I knew he would ask. He was always practical, it was one of the things I loved about him.

'How many months have you missed?' It was exactly the same question Jean-Claude had asked and that made me smile too.

'Nearly three months.' I replied quietly, my voice didn't shake though and the tears were now drying in lines along my cheeks. Micah let out a low whistle.

'You've never missed that long before, right? It wasn't even that long the last time you thought you were pregnant?' Micah knew me as well, if not better than Jean-Claude, and he knew his facts were right, so I just nodded at him.

'You did the test?' Nathanial asked. I nodded at him too,

'It's on the kitchen table, two little blue lines and everything.' I replied, looking at him. Quick and graceful as only lycanthropes are, he was on his feet and walking towards the kitchen to get it. I knew that if any of the men who were really in my life would be excited about this, it would be him. And maybe Richard, but we hadn't been having much sex three months ago, the possibility of a baby of mine being his was unlikely.

Nathanial returned, little plastic stick in hand, still grinning. He was so beautiful that it made my heart pound, his perfect lavender eyes were bright and happy as he crouched down beside us again, clinging to that stick like it was the most precious thing in the world right now.

'I've peed on that, you know.' I said to him, but I had a smile on my face too. Nathanial just grinned that beautiful grin back at me.

'I know, but it wouldn't be the first of your bodily fluids I've had on me.' I blushed, I blushed really, really hard. He'd known I would have and as soon as he saw the heat rising in my cheeks he laughed. It was masculine and happy and so much him that the other two joined in too. I was so glad I was amusing them. I glared up at Nathanial, laughter still lining his face. He sighed a happy sigh and pulled me into his arms, laying kisses on the top of my head and down the side of my face, before coming to my mouth and kissing me deeply. It was all lips and tongues that caress every part of the others mouth. It was perfect. When he finally pulled away so we could breath, he looked down at me.

'Don't glare, Anita. I'm happy. How could I not be happy? If you're having a baby, how could I not be happy?' I knew Nathanial wanted kids, I knew that even if this child wasn't his biologically, although he had every chance, that he'd still bring it up as his own. That thought made me feel more secure. I knew the same of Micah when I looked over to see him smiling at us, my hand still in his was warm and comfortable, and I felt more safe again. I glanced behind me, and now Jean-Claude was smiling, and he nodded like he knew that I was asking if this child would have him as a daddy too. He nodded, and that's when I knew we could do this. We could all do this. If this was happening, we could do this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with the Anita Blake series.**

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Jean-Claude couldn't stay and cuddle with us that night, but he did whisper _Je t'aime ma petite _through my head like a caress just before the break of dawn came and took him away again. Before he'd left I'd had him promise not to tell anyone until we knew for certain, and in return he'd made me promise that I'd make a obgyn appointment for the next day. That had taken a little convincing, because I was meant to be working tomorrow, but he'd reminded me that my bloods last showed that I was a carrier for both Vlad's and Mowgli syndrome, and if I was carrying a child, then we'd need to find out if that was still true as soon as possible. That had scared me a little, and so I agreed to make the appointment first thing in the morning. He'd left not long after that and then Nathanial, Micah and I stripped down and went to bed.

'It's a good job that most of us are good at quieting the beast like the tigers showed us, if you are pregnant then we'll need all the help we can get.' Micah said as he pulled his shirt off over his head. We were currently discussing which of the animals I'd need to tell, which would need to know if they had a possibility of it being their child.

'That's true, but do you think the tigers will want to be helpful with this? I mean, I've slept with a lot of them, but I'm always careful. Condoms on all the tigers and anyone else who isn't common to my bed. None of them really have a chance. It's only you, Nathanial, Nicky, Jason, Jean-Claude, Asher, Damien and Dev really have a chance.' Micah gave me a look, a very pointed look. He knew I'd left someone out, but we weren't going there tonight. I was not going to let him ruin this buzz for us, so I gave him a look right back. Micah sighed, but he didn't say anything about it.

'The tigers and any other animal trained will help, Anita,' Nathanial called from where he lay on the bed, covers pooling around his hip where he'd turned over to watch us undress. 'You're the Mistress of Tigers. You're a human servant, master of your own triumvirate of power, lupa and nima-ra. None of them could refuse to help you.' Now both Micah and I gave Nathanial a look. He'd left out the part where I was still containing the energy of the Mother of All Darkness, he was forgetting the fact that if they didn't want to, I could just scare them into doing it with that power. I wouldn't want to, but the Mother had taken hold of me to terrify my people before after we'd returned from ending her. Sometimes, she was hard to control. Nathanial looked away for a second before raising his eyes to meet mine again. 'You're not evil because of her, Anita. You have control, she doesn't control you. She Isn't even a thing anymore, you just got stronger because of her energy. Everyone understands that, so I didn't need to mention it.'

I sighed, because he was right. Everyone had been stupidly understanding about my loss of control those first few weeks after eating the Mother's energy. They weren't really scared of me, and I'd have known if they were, because I'd made some of my men swear that they would kill me before I became a monster. None of them had killed me, so I wasn't a monster. Yet. Nathanial reached across the bed to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me down. I was in a long t-shirt and little girly boxer shorts, so I could do it without looking like I was flashing everything to the room. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, and I let him. Tonight was not a night for dwelling on dark things, so I let all that go for now. I kissed him back, and when we pulled apart he was smiling at me.

'Let's go to bed.' He whispered down at me. I nodded and held a hand out to Micah, who came to me without a word, just a smile. He kissed me once too, and then we climbed under the covers and I slept like I usually did. Pressed between the two of them with Nathanial's hair beside me like a vanilla blanket and Micah's strong, warm arms around me.

I was pulled from a dream about babies in the underground of the Circus of the Damned, being held by every man I had ever been with, by the sound of my phone ringing somewhere in the room. I'd finally gotten it to a default set of ringing bells for everyone, after Nathanial had given most of the people in my contacts list a personalised ring tone. Micah groaned, turned over and reached for my cell on the bedside table. I knew he'd answer it, he always did, but I sat up onto my elbows a little bit anyway. The clock said it was only half 7, we'd gone to bed at a little after four. Three hours sleep, joy. Micah held the phone out to me and mouthed Zebrowski. I groaned internally, of course It was the police, and took the phone from him.

'Yeah?'

'Anita, you've got to stop letting different men answer the phone. We get mighty confused.' Zebrowski was joking, as far as I knew, because he knew and liked Micah. We'd been in his house with his wife Katie and him for dinner just over a week ago.

'What is it, Zebrowski? It's too early to be awake for a social call.'

'It's half 7 in the morning, most normal people are on their way to work now.'

'I'm not normal.'

'Ain't that the damn truth.' He laughed, but then he turned serious. 'We got a crime scene, something that Dolph wants you in on.' I sighed again, if Dolph wanted me there then it was probably some kind of violent supernatural death. He always brings me such nice gifts, does the head of the RITP.

'Murder?' I asked, even though I already knew the answer would be yes.

'Yeah. We need you down here Anita.'

'Yeah, okay I'll be there. Address?' He gave me the address and I told him I'd be there in the hour, if not less, he made one last joke about the amount of men in my bed and then hung up. No goodbye, but then there never was from policemen. Nathanial was awake now, and watching me with his lavender eyes, Micah was doing the same with his yellow-green kitty cat eyes from the other side.

'Why are you both staring at me?'

'You're really going to go out to a murder scene? Anita we need to go to the doctors today and let everyone know. How can you just agree to go out to see a murder with all that on your mind?' Nathanial looked at me with both worry and accusations in his eyes and I knew he was right, but I had to do this, it was my job.

'Just because I might be pregnant does not mean I don't go to work, Nathanial. We'll call the doctors office on the way and make an appointment for later today.'

'We'll?' Micah looked confused. 'You mean you're taking us to work with you, why?'

'Because of all the reasons you said, and I want you both with me today. Please don't say no, Micah. Just come with me and wait, then come with me to the doctors. I don't want to be alone today.' I didn't know what was wrong with me, but the words felt right for what I was feeling. I had a positive test stick for less than a day and already I was turning soft. I didn't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing, so I let it go for now and began climbing out of bed to get ready.

'You haven't fed.' I cursed under my breath and the turned to look at both the men in my bed. I'd fed on Micah before he'd gone to work yesterday, so it was Nathanial's turn, but I so didn't want sex right now.

'I'll push it back for a while.'

'Emotions might be running high today, please, please just give into it this once.' Nathanial was worried, and it was the concern in his voice that made me sigh and pad my way back to the bed. Micah was up and walking towards the door, going for a shower, but he gave me a kiss as we passed and told me to try and make it quick. He grinned at me and then he left, shutting the door softly behind him. Nathanial held his hand out to me, and I climbed back into the bed and laid down on my side beside him.

'He's right, we'll need to be quick this morning.' I have him apologies with my eyes, he knew I liked to take me time with him.

'How about you just mark me?' I gave him a look that made him laugh. 'Oh come on, you've been able to feed on me from a marking for months, and I know you don't want sex this morning. Plus, this is one of the quickest ways to feed the _ardeur_.' Nathanial was right, and I hadn't done this to him in a while. I knew he loved it, so I'd do it. I grinned at him, and then pushed him down onto the bed, swinging my legs over him so I straddled his waist but touched nothing lower. Normally, I like to take my time with this, but it can raise my beast doing it that way, so this morning I just let go of the shields I had in place for the ardure and watched as Nathanial's face slackened and felt him grow hard and press against my leg. It made me shudder, and I laid a mouth down to his chest.

Nathanial wrapped arms around me and pulled me harder against him, but I had wiggle room, and I used it to kiss, lick and bite my way up his chest until I rested my mouth in the hollow of his neck. I ran my tongue along until I found the part of his neck that had a little pulse and the most biteable looking area, and he shuddered under my touch. His hands convulsed and dug nails into my back just from the feel of my breath along that part of his body. One hand wrapped in my hair and tightened, drawing little sounds of protest from me until I opened my mouth wider and began to set teeth in. I kept pushing my teeth, slowly, carefully into the warmth of his neck, and usually that would have brought the beast of Richard or Jean-Claude's bloodlust, but not today. Today I just kept biting, he moaned and writhed for me more and more the further and the harder I bit him. His hand kneaded at my back and tugged at my hair tightly, but not until my teeth touched between his skin and I tasted the first metallic flow of blood in my mouth did he finally let him self release. I felt some of that hot liquid pool against my thigh and fed, fed deeply, until I lay on top of him, both of us breathing deeply, with his arms wrapped gently around him.

'You need to go get ready.' He whispered, still slightly breathless.

'I know.' My voice was steadier than his was, and I snuggled tighter against him for a second longer before moving up off him and heading towards the door. I shot a look over my shoulder and grinned at him, he grinned back, and then I left to shower.

A little over and hour later and we were at the address that Zebrowski had given us. It was a nice estate, all the houses similar in design and colour with manicured front lawns and good cars in the drive. I had Micah and Nathanial with me, because I couldn't bear to leave home without them this morning. We'd rung the doctors office at 8, just when they'd been opening. My doctor was very insistent that I get there as soon as possible, at the hospital like last time, anytime after one in the afternoon. Now I was nervous about that, very nervous actually, but I had to keep that under control for now. I had a murder scene to go look at.

Zebrowski met us at the tape, because I wasn't sure what to do with my men now that they were here with me. I couldn't take them onto the scene, but it seemed rude to leave them in the car since I'd dragged them out of bed with me.

'Anita.' Zebrowski grinned at me. 'Micah, Nathanial, I don't think Dolph's going to let you into the scene.' I knew he wouldn't and so did Zebrowski, not after what he had done with Jason the last time I'd had a civilian with me.

'I need them to be in the surrounding area today, and I need to be off this scene by midday. I have an appointment to get to.' Zebrowski's eyebrows shot up at that, I never put police work off for anything.

'Appointment? Like doctors? Are you sick?' I smiled at him, because I knew his concern was genuine, it showed on his face.

'Not sick, no, but a doctor's appointment, yes.' I couldn't help it, I looked back at the two men stood just a little behind me and smiled at them. They both grinned back. When I faced back around, Zebrowski was grinning at me too. He'd picked up, and I'd said too much. Dammit.

'Do I owe you a congratulations, Blake?' He seemed genuinely happy about it, but there was something in his voice that let me know something was up.

'Possibly, Zebrowski. Make sure I get to my appointment on time and I'll let you know.' I looked at him and his face fell. ' What's the matter?'

'If we'd have known, we wouldn't have called you out to this. I promise you.' My stomach did a little somersault, whatever this was, it was going to be bad.

'Why?' Zebrowski sighed and his shoulder slumped, because he knew that no matter what, now I was here I was going in there, and he didn't want me to now he knew I might be pregnant.

'You'll see.' With that he turned, and walked towards the house.

Both of my men were content to wait around for me since there was no media here yet, and I let Zebrowskie lead me through the many officers and CSI's that swarmed the place. My stomach was turning, because if Zebrowski didn't want me to see this, then it would be bad, and I had a feeling it had something to do with what he'd just found out about me. We made our way up the stairs of the very nice house, towards the doorway that was filled with both uniformed and plain clothed policemen. Zebrowski whirled and laid a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

'If you want to, you can turn around now, leave and don't look. I'll tell Dolph you're sick and had to go home. I'll take the heat for it. I really don't want you to see this now, Anita.' No teasing, no innuendo's. Something was very wrong behind that door. I just shook my head and Zebrowski dropped his hand from my shoulder. His eyes held apologies as he turned around and pushed through the men in our way and led me into the room.

Everything in there seemed normal, until you reached the bed, and then you didn't know what the hell to look at first. It was one of those things that our minds won't make sense of for a while, something that it gives us a chance to look away from and never comprehend because it is so awful, but I didn't take the chance. I kept looking and piecing together. There was a naked woman laid stretched out , her entire body bar one part a bloody, red ruin. I could see even from a distance that there were tears and claw marks covering her body, and those were the first thing I noticed. Then my eyes travelled back over her a second time, and I finally understood why Zebrowski hadn't wanted me in here after he found out my news. The one part untouched by claws and red ruin on her body was her stomach, it was bare and clean of blood like someone had taken the time to wipe everything away from that area. I looked for a second longer and then turned away. A second later and I was pushing my way through the men behind me, trying to get out. Zebrowski shouted at them to get the fuck out of my way, and then I was in the hallway, running, until I'd reached a bathroom and threw up heavily in the sink. Zebrowski's hand found my back a moment after id finished throwing everything in my stomach. He turned me around and I collapsed against him.

'I'm so sorry, Anita. If I'd known I wouldn't have brought you here. I wouldn't have, I swear.' Tears were flowing from my eyes now, I'd not known that woman, I'd never met her in my life, but images of her body flashed behind my eyes like my mind was punishing me for not turning away before I'd seen it all. The red ruin of her body, the terror in her eyes, and the way one arm was throw across her swollen, pregnant stomach. The woman had tried to protect her child with the last thing she had, herself. And it had not been enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter, although i've made Anita a little soft hearted, more so than i thought i would. Let me know what you think? )**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with the Anita Blake series.**

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Ten minutes later I was sat with my head back against the bathtub, Zebrowski was crouched in front of me and still apologising, and somehow, he'd gotten Dolph to okay Micah and Nathanial coming onto the scene to get me. I heard them coming along the hallway with the policeman that had been sent to collect them from outside, and I looked up just as they were coming through the door. Micah's face was all concern and love, but Nathanial couldn't hide the grim look in his eyes. Someone had told them what had happened, what had made me run crying from a dead body. Zebrowski got out of the way and Micah took his spot instead, taking one of my hands into his and rubbing comforting circles along my knuckles. He didn't ask me if I was okay, he knew me better than that.

'Lets get you out of here, okay?' His voice was gentle and coaxing, but I shook my head.

'I was called into this case, Micah, I have to stay and figure out what happened in there.' My voice was weak and shaky, and Micah just gave me a look. Like he was trying to tell me something, but my emotions were so out of sync that I couldn't pick up on it.

'Get out of here, Anita. I'll clear it with Dolph, but you shouldn't be here.' I looked away from Micah's concerned face to find Zebrowski stood just behind him with Nathanial. I should have been angry at him for even suggesting that I leave a case right at the beginning, but I couldn't muster it. I just nodded my head, and he had a second of looking shocked that I hadn't argued before relief took over and he went out to deal with Dolph.

Nathanial knelt down beside Micah and put his warm hand against my cheek, I leaned in a breathed in the scent of him. Vanilla, and the sweet, sharp smell of leopard underneath that. He smelt like home. I smiled a little up at him and he lent down to place a little kiss against my forehead.

'Let us take you home, Anita.' Nathanial said with his lips against my forehead still. I just nodded, and then each of them took a hand and helped me up, normally I wouldn't have taken the help, but today it felt like I needed it.

When we walked past Dolph, I expected him to look angry and stop us, but instead he joined us and offered to escort us out past the press that had just arrived. Micah agreed and followed him out, Dolph shot me a look over his shoulder, almost like an apology, and then began clearing us a way through. I didn't understand what that look was for, until the media began gathering around us and throwing questions our way. I was expecting it to be about the crime scene, or maybe about why my men were with me, but instead they surprised me.

'Is it true that you're pregnant, Ms Blake?' Some reporter with a mic and a big camera balanced on his shoulder shouted at me. I startled. How the hell was that about already?

'How do they know?' I hissed to Micah, ignoring the rest of their questions.

'We don't know, we're thinking maybe someone from the doctors office.' He looked at me apologetically, but it wasn't his fault. I shut my eyes for a second, took and deep breath, and then continued on behind Dolph towards our car. This could not be happening, we didn't even know for certain yet and the media hounds were already upon us.

It took longer to reach the car than I'd expected, even with the amount of press about, but we got there eventually. Dolph opened my door for me, and I let him do it, so that I could climb in and settle into the passenger seat. Micah was going to drive us back, I just didn't feel up for it. Dolph kept my door open long after I'd climbed in, and he leant down to talk to me.

'We didn't know, Anita, and I'm sorry that you had to see that with everything going on right now.' It was as kind and as heartfelt as I'd ever seen Dolph before, and it kind of shocked me. This wasn't like him at all, so I must have looked pretty bad at the moment.

'It's alright, Dolph, you weren't to know.' I smiled a little at him, and he nodded back before closing my door and stepping back, giving Micah room to turn around and leave.

We were just getting onto the highway when I told them that we had to go to the Circus, not back home.

'We need to set up a guard to take to the hospital this afternoon. With the way my emotions are right now, I don't want to risk not having all my animals with me. Just in case.'

'That means we'll have to tell them, are you sure you want to do that?' Nathanial asked from the back seat.

'It'll be all over the news by now, Nathanial, they probably already know. And some people have the right to know anyway, it's as much their deal as ours.' I saw Nathanial nod in the mirror and he settled back into his chair.

'If you're telling some, you have to tell them all, Anita.' Micah glanced at me from the drivers side and it was eloquent, he wanted me to call Richard and tell him too.

'No. I don't want him anywhere near this. Not yet at least.' We'd had sex once in the time frame that made it possible for him to be in the running for daddy, but I didn't care. We'd had the biggest argument of our lives not long after that, and I hadn't talked to him since.

'You just said it'll be all over the news, he'll hear about it soon and be angry you didn't tell him yourself.'

'I don't care.' Neither of them said anything else as we drove to the circus, and I didn't try and engage another conversation. It wasn't a long drive, so the tension didn't have time to mount between us, but it did in me. I didn't want to have to tell all the men in my life that we might possible have a child on the way. The thought terrified me, but I knew I had too. All too soon, we had reached the circus and made our way down the abnormally spaced and shaped steps with Bobby-lee at our backs.

Damian, our only day walking vampire and my vampire servant, met us at the big door that led into the main underground tunnels of the circus. He could sense the tension in me, he always could, and he put a cool hand on my face. One of his jobs as a servant was to share his calm with me, to help me control the things inside of me, and he did that now. I smiled up at him.

'Good morning, Damian. Are Jason, Dev and Nicky about?' He looked at me with a bit of a confused expression, I had closed my shields pretty tight and he couldn't tell what was wrong, but he nodded anyways.

'They're having breakfast In the kitchen, would you like me to fetch them for you?' Always helpful, was Damian, and I gave him another smile.

'Yeah, please, if you wouldn't mind. We'll be in the living room.' Damian nodded again and then gave me a quick kiss before heading off to get the boys from the kitchen. Micah and Nathanial took up my hands again and led the way through until we reached the white gauzy curtains that made the 'walls' of the living room. They parted them easily and stepped into the room of whites and silvers and gold's. The painting of Jean-Claude, Asher and their dead Julianna hung over the big fireplace and I took a moment to admire it, as I always did, before we moved to sit on the big chair together. I snuggled them both into me and we waited.

Damian, Jason, Dev and Nicky came into the room, the animals carrying cups of coffee and half eaten bacon sandwiches, laughing at something one of them had said on the way down. Once they saw us three cuddled together on the chair looking serious, they settled down and sat down with a series of good morning's. Nicky looked as tense as I felt, and he probably was, I couldn't close my feelings off from him. It was part of the package of being a bride like I'd made him. I took a deep breath a looked over them all. I liked them all, I loved Jason in a best friend kind of way, but I didn't know if I wanted any of them to be the father of this child. I took a deep breath, gave them one last look over them and squeezed Nathanial and Micah's hands.

'I need to tell you something, so that we can go out and do something later. And I need you all to not freak out right now.' Jason, Damian and Dev looked confused, Nicky stayed looking tense, but they all nodded. I took another deep breath and tried to sort my thoughts in my head before continuing.

'We need to visit the hospital later.' Now they all looked worried. 'Because I think.. Well I think I'm pregnant.' I looked down and waited while they gauged this news. A moment later, I heard movement and someone coming closer to us, I looked up to see who it was. Jason knelt down in front of me and he smiled. It was gentle and caring and as beautiful as I'd ever seen him. He held a hand out to me and Nathanial let go of the one he was holding so that I could reach out to him. Jason laid a soft kiss against my hand and then looked up at me again.

'How far along do you think you are?'

'Nearly three months.' Jason processed this knowledge and then smiled at me again.

'Whatever you need, I'll be there.' With that he stood up, laid a kiss on my forehead and went back to where he was sitting, that beautiful gentle smile still plastered to his face. The last time we'd had a pregnancy scare, I'd been angry at everyone who'd been happy about it. Now I was happy too, and it felt amazing for once. Nicky came to me next and laid a hand on my cheek, I looked up at him, his anime style hair covered his scars today, but even with them he was beautiful. He still looked as tense as I was feeling, but his own happiness shone through and he grinned at me.

'Whatever you need.' He whispered, and then like Jason, went back to sit where he had been. Dev didn't come to me, but he looked about as happy as the others had. He was smiling gently at me and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

'I have not been here long, but we are safe and we are happy and we work. If I was ever to have children, It would be with you Anita. So, yes. Whatever you need.' I let out some tension that I hadn't known I was still holding, and watched as Nicky relaxed too. Damian just smiled at me, nodded and whispered through my head '_whatever you need.' _

Half an hour later, we had a guard set up. Nathanial and Micah would come with as boyfriends. Jason, Dev, Nicky, Claudia and Bobby-lee would be guards and my animals, just in case. The rest of the morning was spent laughing and joking and being genuinely happy. We'd had a lot of moments like these over the past month, once the Marmee Noir issue settled down and I gained some control over my energy again, but now we had something else to be happy about and it showed. Everyone was light-hearted, no one mentioned crime scenes or Richard or anything that could go wrong. One o'clock and the hospital came around quickly.

Dr. North knew from experience that I'd be bringing guards with me, and he knew that I'd probably be tense about the visit, but he wasn't expecting us all the be pleased.

'The last time, you didn't want to be pregnant, are things different this time?' He asked kindly. I looked around the room and at my men and smiled back at him.

'Yes, things are different this time.' He smiled back at me and nodded, focusing on drawing the blood for the test that would confirm or deny whether this pregnancy was happening and tell us whether anything was wrong if it was. The wait for the doctors return was the tensest moment any of us had experienced all day, and when he finally came back through the door with a clip chart in his hand and a small smile turning at his mouth, we all jumped a little. He walked a little further into the room, stopped beside the bed I was perched on and flicked through his notes one more time before looking up at me.

'You are a medical mystery, you know?' He was full on smiling at me now, and I was confused as to where this was going.

'Yes..' I prompted.

'You are with child, Anita. 11 weeks along to be exact.' The room took a collective gasp and I felt myself becoming dizzy with all the emotions and power leaks we had going on.

'Guys,' my voice was strained, 'reign it in for now, we have the rest of the appointment to get through yet.' Some mumbled apologies, but they all pulled it back and shielding up again. 'And what about the other tests, doc, Vlad's, Mowgli?' His grin grew bigger again, although I hadn't thought that was possible.

'Well, this is where it get's interesting.' He flicked to a page in his chart. 'You know that last time we were here, you were carrying more types of lycanthropy than we thought possible and you were carrying both syndromes in your blood?' He looked up at me and I nodded for him to continue. 'Well, you still have the lycanthropy in your blood, all of them, but the syndromes are gone. You had both, which we associated with pregnancy, when you weren't pregnant, and now that you are they have both vanished from your blood work.'

'This is good news, right?' Dev asked from by the door that he was guarding, Dr North looked at him and nodded, his grin still plastered on his face.

'So, let me get this right. I'm 11 weeks pregnant, and I'm not carrying either of the syndromes we might have expected?' I asked, I was a little confused, but relieved was the biggest thing I was feeling. I knew the men round me were feeling the same way as some of it leaked over their shields again.

'Exactly, I'd like to do an ultrasound just to make sure everything else looks okay, but yes. You're pregnant, you're healthy. Everything seems fine.' Micah wrapped an arm around my waist and hugged me to him, Nathanial took my hand and kissed it again and again while I looked at him and smiled. Jason, Dev and Nicky grinned at me from their respective guard stances around the room. Eventually I looked back to the doctor, who was waiting beside the ultrasound machine now.

'Do you want them all in here for this?'

'They all have a right to be here.' Dr North did that long blink that kind of signifies that he hadn't quite picked up that all these men were in the running for daddy. Oh my, if he knew how many it could really be. Eventually, he just nodded once more at me and told me to lie down, Micah and Nathanial moved out of the way. Micah stood beside me and held my hand, and Nathanial held Micah's other hand, while the cold gel was squeezed onto my abdomen and Dr North appeared with the chunky wand.

'You remember how this works?' He asked me.

'Yep, I remember.' He lowered it and swept it across and in a circle until he found what he was looking for. I wasn't paying attention to the screen until he reached out and pressed a button. Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of a steady, fast little heart beat coming from the monitor and I turned. A tiny little shape wriggled around in the black and white static of the screen and the heart beat continued on. All of the men had gathered closer to look.

'That right there, Anita, is your child.' Dr North said, keeping his hand on the chunky wand steady while we all peered at the screen. I looked away and up at the five me crowded around my bed. Jason, Nicky and Micah all looked at the screen with wonderment. Dev looked at it with as close to adoration I'd even seen in the mans face. Nathanial was looking down at me, and he was grinning with tears in his eyes.

'That's our baby.' I whispered, and he nodded at me, the first of the happy tears spilling down his cheek. He let go of Micah's hand to lean over and kiss me. It was short and sweet and perfect, and when he pulled away he turned and smashed into the hug that Micah was offering him. Dr North wiped up the gel on my stomach and left us to our celebrating, the sound of the child's heart beat was gone now, but Dev was tapping it out with his fingers onto his leg like it was a tune he couldn't forget. Both Jason and Nicky gave me kisses like Nathanial's before I was pulled off the bed into a hug by Micah, and I felt the others crowd in around us, sharing the moment. The moment was more perfect than anything I'd felt before, and I grinned into Micah's shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! I'm having an insane amount of fun writing this, although i know it's a bit 'soft' on the character of Anita. **

**Let me know what you think? :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with the Anita Blake series.**

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By the time we'd finished having our moment in the hospital room, gathered everyone up and started driving home, it was four o'clock. It was cloudy enough outside and deep enough underground that I knew the vampires strong enough to wake before true nightfall would be up and about soon. Jean-Claude woke first, and I felt it with a jolt that would have been dangerous if I'd been the one driving. My sheer joy and happiness reached out to him through the shields, and I felt his happiness at my emotions flow through him before he shut me down a little.

'_We will talk when you arrive, ma petite. I need to feed.' _He whispered an 'I love you.' into my mind just before he shut me out and I settled back into my seat again. I took the time to glance around the car. Micah was driving, and he was giving off calm and happy feelings stronger than I'd ever felt from him before. Nathanial sat behind him, and he was grinning, I think that some of my own enthusiasm was Nathanial's leaking over the shields between us. Jason sat squashed between Nathanial and Dev, but he didn't seem to mind, he was still smiling that beautiful gentle smile at me, and Dev was still tapping out what I thought to be the beat of the baby's heart against his leg. I'd never felt such happy emotions from all of my men at one time, it was quite a treat. Our entire car seemed filled with it, and it was hard not to grin like a Cheshire cat and bask in it, so I didn't fight it. I grinned at them all and then turned back around just as we were pulling into the parking lot for the circus.

Nicky, Bobby-lee and Claudia had been in the other car following us, and we met them at the door to the circus where Graham let us in. I didn't even frown at him, something I'd become accustomed to doing, I just grinned and practically skipped by him, dragging Nathanial by the hand with me. Micah laughed and followed us through, the rest of them trailing him. I almost ran down the uneven stairs, and was not surprised to find Damian holding the lower door open for us. He was smiling at me, a smile that reached his beautiful green eyes and made them twinkle with something I'd never seen there before.

'Pregnant?' He asked, his voice echoing the smile on his face. He knew the answer because I hadn't shielded him out, but I nodded and grinned at him anyway. Nathanial let go of my hand so that I could reach out and give Damian a kiss, before flouncing off along the corridor to where I knew Jean-Claude and Asher were waiting. Masculine laughter followed me as I made my way hastily towards the living room. I batted the gauzy white curtains that made up the walls for the room apart and practically flung myself at Jean-Claude, who picked me up around the waist and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him deeply and thoroughly. He pulled away laughing, a trace of my lipstick on his mouth. Apparently, he hadn't told Asher yet, and he stood just behind us looking mightily confused. I looked down at Jean-Claude's perfect face with questions in my eyes. Why hadn't he told him?

'It is your news to tell, _ma petite.' _He still held me around his body like a blanket, and I didn't want down, so I looked back over his shoulder to Asher. His golden hair was pushed back, revealing the scars on his face to the room. He was beautiful, his perfect mouth looked as kissable as always, his blue eyes were piercing. I grinned at him.

'I'm pregnant.' I grinned at him, and a flash of something took over his face for a second before he was beside us. One hand on my arm, one on Jean-Claude's.

'You are certain?' His voice sounded hopeful and it kind of made my heart sing. Oh, shucks, I was feeling romantic today if I was thinking about vampires and hearts singing.

'We're just back from the obgyn. I am 11 weeks pregnant. And the best part is, the Mowgli's and Vlad's that had been in my system are gone. Completely healthy. We heard a heart beat and everything.' Asher grinned at me, a stretch of his mouth that even showed fangs, which was unusual for him. His hand that had been on my arm moved to stroke a line down my face that was so gentle it made me eyes close and my breath come out in a contented sigh. Asher lowered his mouth to mine over Jean-Claude's shoulder and gave me the sweetest kiss I thought I'd ever experienced, before pulling away and leaning over to give a similar one to Jean-Claude. I watched them with a sense of happy pride, not too long ago Asher had been threatening to leave because Jean-Claude wouldn't touch him, and now they were more together than they had been in centuries. It was just a day for happy sights, apparently.

It was much later that night, when I lay in bed pressed between Jean-Claude and Asher, that things started to take a bad turn. Micah had to go home and sit by the phone tonight, because he was on call for the furry coalition, Nathanial had gone to keep him company, and the others were all around the circus doing their usual things. We had guards placed outside of the bedroom door, but we weren't expecting to need them tonight. I was just about to fall asleep, with Asher's head pressed against my stomach and Jean-Claude's hand running gently through my hair, when the shouting outside started.

'Ulfric, you can not go in there!' It was Clay's voice, one of Richard's wolves who was trying to calm him down, but instead a wash of Richards power flowed through into the room and the door smashed open. Jean-Claude and Asher had sat up as soon as the shouting had begun outside, and now I was sitting between them, all three of us naked, and hardly covered by Jean-Claude's silk blue sheets. Richard stood just inside of the door way, his hands clenched into fists at his side and his entire body vibrating with his power.

'_Mon Lupe_, what are you doing here at such an hour?' Jean-Claude's voice was as mild as I'd ever heard him, I wrapped my hand around his and he gave me a squeeze back.

'I am not your wolf!' Richard roared, lashing out with his power. It tingled along my skin like thousands of tiny bites than made me cry out.

'Richard, stop it!' He stood still in the doorway, still vibrating with his power, but he did pull it back a little so that it wasn't spilling across my skin.

'You may want to control yourself, Richard, bringing Anita's beasts would be quite disastrous.' Asher's voice was controlled and pleasant, like he could have been talking about the weather. Richard turned his amber wolf eyes from him and back to me, and looked over me. I had the urge to pull the sheets over my breasts, but didn't. He'd seen me naked before.

'So it's true, you're pregnant?' Richard's voice was more controlled now, his power still filled the room like hot wind, but it didn't hurt anymore. I could breath around it.

'Yeah, I am.' The anger that I'd had for Richard since we'd had our last big fight rose back to the surface and made each of my words bite.

'How far gone are you?' His voice was a strange mix of gentle and really pissed off.

'The doctor said 11 weeks.' I replied angrily, ignoring his gentleness. I was allowed to be angry at him.

'We had sex just over 11 weeks ago, Anita. That child could be mine as much as it could be anyone else's. Why didn't you tell me?' His anger was back in his voice now, but he still kept his power under a little control.

'Because the last time we spoke, you called me worse things than I've ever experienced, you told me that if I was going to become a vampire and eat other vampires energies, that I deserved to die and become one for real. Because you hate me, Richard, and I hate you more.' I was still angry, but there were tears In my eyes now, Asher slid a arm around my waist and Jean-Claude raised his hand and brushed the stray tears away from my face. I'd never really told them what he'd said to me, and what I had just admitted was a very toned down version.

'I meant every word I said, at the time, Anita. But I deserve to know if you might be carrying my child!' His voice held that biting power again, and it made me cry out, my beast stirred inside me and I gasped.

'Richard, please, don't do this.' He realised what he'd done and toned it down, sending out some of the power the tigers had been teaching to calm down my own beast. 'And I know you meant it, Richard. I didn't tell you, because either way, you won't get to be in my life. I have enough men in my life to make up for the hole you might possibly make as a daddy. It's not just about one lucky sperm, Richard. It's about raising a child, and you can't do that with me if you hate me this much.' As I'd been talking, I'd come to a realisation in my head. I might always love Richard, but it wasn't enough. He didn't make me happy, he destroyed it every time we started to make things work between us all. I wouldn't let him destroy this too.

'Anita, please.' Richard's face was shocked, and he had tears running down his face, and I didn't care.

'Get out, Richard.'

'Anita, don't do this.' I screamed at him from the bed and then I moved. I don't know how I did it, but a second later I was stood a foot away from him, totally naked and screaming at him.

'Get out, Richard! Get the fuck out!' I fell to my knee's and screamed, because something inside of me had happened. My shields were coming down around me, and now the my wolf and Marmee Noir's energy were both trying to rise inside of me, they were both fighting for possession. The beast tried to stretch out along my body and make me change, and yet still found no release. The vampire's energy tried to overtake my mind and make me stop feeling anything for anyone but myself. I couldn't let it happen, but I was struggling to stop it.

'Jean-Claude!' I screamed. He was by me in a second, Asher by his side. Richard towered above them, frozen.

'_Ma petite, ma petite_, what is happening?' I looked up at him, and let him see the power trying to flood my eyes and turn them into pure black. I saw the horror on his face as he understood, and then he closed it down. Instead, he opened the marks between myself and him and poured something into me that the Mother of All Darkness wouldn't understand. Luckily, I'd fed well enough that the ardure didn't overcome us, but just forced down the energy and gave me a little time to think. The wolf inside of me was quiet now, and I didn't know if she was just waiting, but I couldn't worry about that right this second. I used my moment of clarity to slam down the lid of the shields that kept Marmee Noir's energy held inside of me. I slammed it down and locked it up and hoped I'd gotten it all. Jean-Claude put hid fingers under my chin and raised my face too look at me.

'Better?' He asked, his eyes searching along my face, I was about to say yes, when the wolf began to pace up at me again, breaking out into a run inside of me, and smashing into a surface that she couldn't break.

I screamed and fell forward into Jean-Claude's arms. Asher helped hold me down while I screamed, my body convulsed and bucked as the wolf tried to tear itself out of my body. She tried to force claws out under my finger nails and blood blossomed there, and I screamed more. Richard could have quieted this, but he stood frozen and staring down at me without making any move to help. If I survived this, I'd never forgive him. It was Clay who appeared above me, yanking off his black security shirt and hovering above me, his eyes had gone wolf and that made the wolf inside me more insistent that she get out. I screamed more, and my throat began to ache, but I couldn't stop.

'Anita, Anita give me your beast.' I knew it was Clay who was saying it, and I even understood what he was saying, but I couldn't seem to make myself do it.

'_Ma petite, you must. Give Clay your wolf.' _Jean-Claude was whispering in my head, and I finally understood what they were really asking me to do. I had another moment of clarity, and I used to look up at Clay above me with his eyes gone wolf.

'I'm sorry.' I whispered to him, and he understood. I raised my mouth to his and kissed him, kissed him until I felt my beast rise and start flowing into him. I felt him scream into my mouth as my wolf crashed into him, but still he kept the kiss. I fed at his mouth and poured all that lycanthrope heat into him until he exploded on top of us, and everything went quiet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello lovelies! It's now the summer holidays officially, so hopefully i'll be able to update more frequently than i have been as of later.**

**Thank you Dantes-Silent-Huntress for pointing me to that pomme de sang website, i now have my story on there as well, and i've corrected the spelling mistakes :p**

**Let me know of what you think? I'm a bit 50/50 about how i wrote the violence for this scene so any comments would be appreciated.**

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The silence broke when I whimpered, pain crawled through my body and made places I didn't even know existed hurt. Clay pushed up off me lightly and rolled to the side, raising his eyes to look at me.

'That hurts more every time it happens.' His voice was growling and strange in his wolf man form, and it shook with the effort and pain that his body had gone through because of the forced change. Jean-Claude wiped away some of the clear gloop from my face before I opened my mouth to talk.

'I'm sorry, Clay. I didn't have time to make it hurt less.' My voice was raspy and shaking, Jean-Claude and Asher cuddled in closer to me, holding me gently in their arms while the shaking running through my body began to subside.

'It's okay, I'd rather I change than you lose your baby Anita. Don't apologise.' It was then that Richard growled menacingly, he was glaring between all four of us currently on the floor. Anger stirred through me and raced to the top of my current emotions list, he'd just stood there and almost let that happen, knowing I could have been hurt, knowing I could have lost the baby. I shook off Asher and Jean-Claude's arms and stood, dizziness only making my head spin for a second before the world righted itself again. Then I faced Richard, naked and very, very angry.

'Why, Richard?' My voice was controlled, tight with anger. Both my men stood up beside me, but didn't try and touch me. I could feel their own anger at him rolling off in waves.

'Why what?' He bit back, glaring between the three of us stood naked before him and Clay in his wolf man form leaning against the bed.

'Why didn't you try and stop it, calm it, take the god damn wolf yourself?' My hands clenched into fists by my sides and my arms shook with the strength it took to resist throwing a punch at his face. An emotion I couldn't quite identify crossed his features, twisted his face, before he went back to anger.

'Because I didn't want to.' Richard growled. 'I hate you, and I hate that you'd remove me from my child's life. I couldn't let you let them bring up a child of mine.' To say I was shocked was an understatement, he was pretty much admitting that he wanted me to change and lose the baby. My anger grew into rage and something that hurt a lot more, I'd known Richard hated me, but enough to do this?

'You'd rather I lose this baby, than let people who love me and would love this child help me raise it.' Richard paused, anger still marring his face. Asher and Jean-Claude each took a hand and squeezed my fingers, giving me their support.

'No.. Yes. Hell, Anita. I don't know. I just know that I didn't want to stop it.' Richard's eyes darkened and for a moment I was scared that he was about to lash out at me. I was strong, maybe strong enough to keep him from hurting me too much, but his arms and legs were longer and he had the strength of a true wolf behind him. I shouldn't have worried about myself though, because a moment later he turned on his heel and rushed at Clay, who was still leaning back against the side of the bed recovering from the violent change. Richard grabbed him by his neck and whirled until he slammed him against the wall to his side. The strength of it sent vibrations through the entire room. I dropped the hands of the vampires beside me and screamed at Richard, who's fingers were now inching tighter around Clays throat.

'Richard, stop it, you'll kill him!' I screamed at him, I rushed over and threw out a clenched fist into his side. Shock registered on his face and he let go of Clay, who fell limply to the floor, his head bleeding. Richard turned to face me, his shock returning to the expression of rage that had been contorting his face. He threw one very large fist towards me face, but I saw it coming and ducked out of the way. I didn't have time to be shocked at the face that Richard had attacked me, because he was coming towards me again, his tightly wound rage making is body vibrate with power and strength. Jean-Claude stepped behind him and put a hand against his shoulder, a friendly, and yet silly gesture of him to make. Richard spun and threw a fist into Jean-Claude's ribs, cracking at least one and throwing him backwards into the wall beside Clay, Asher crouched beside him and helped him sit.

'_You must calm him, somehow, ma petite, or I fear what he will do to you.' _Jean-Claude whispered through my mind, the pain of a broken bone and bruised body hardly registered in his thoughts, but smartly, he stayed against the wall. I gave him back a very sarcastic sounding mental reply and then focused back on Richard.

'Richard, please. You're going to either hurt me badly or get yourself killed trying.'

'I don't care!' He roared, lunging forward, his blow caught me just under the chin and I was flung backwards. I lay crumpled on the floor for a moment, dizziness and black spots marring my vision. It cleared up, and I moved into a sitting position, Richard was still stood from where he'd thrown the punch, glowering at me.

'Please, Richard. You might hate me, but hurting me like this won't solve anything.' There was no sense getting through to Richard, his eyes were unfocused with his anger, his fists still clenched, his entire body ready to lash out. I got back to my feet and faced him. 'Richard, please-' Richard's leg flew outwards, I twisted, seeing it at the last minute, but the strong blow caught my side and sent me flying across the room, I flung my arms out to catch my fall, but my mouth hit the ground and blood burst out. My side gave out a sharp, terrifying throb and the pain made me nauseous and faint. I watched as both the vampires and Clay rushed to their feet, Jean-Claude and Asher each catching an arm to restrain him and Clay pressing clawed hands against his chest to try and keep him back. My vision swum in and out, pain making my body weak and tired. I heard the voices of other guards, the start, or the end, of another fight, but my eyes were fluttering closed with the pain flowing through my body, and then the darkness washed over me.

I woke to the sound of a monitor beeping, air conditioning, and the breathing of at least two people. The room was dimly lit and cool, but the heat from the two men pressed around me kept the cool air away. I turned my head, a gentle pain throbbing just behind my eyes, and looked at who was on my right. Micah lay there, his arm around me, his leopard eyes open, watching me with concern. I turned my head to the other side and found Nathanial watching me in much the same way. His arm tightened around me when I gave him a small smile, but it brushed against my side and I let out a groan of pain.

'Sorry, sorry. I forgot, it's just nice to see you smiling.' Nathanial's arm loosened, taking the pain with it, but his stayed wrapped around me.

'How long have I been out, why am I at the shifter hospital?' I asked, my voice dry and scratchy. Nathanial unwound himself from me and went to grab the cup of water from the bedside table, lowering the straw to my mouth and letting me sip while Micah answered.

'You've only been unconscious a day and you're at the shifter hospital because you were unconscious. And the place Richard kicked you was frighteningly near your abdomen.' Fear trembled through me and I pulled my mouth away from the straw. I turned to look at Micah who was sat just a little behind me, reclining against the pillows.

'The baby?' Anxiety filled my voice and Micah's hand found mine, Nathanial's fingers curled around my wrist. They both gave me a gentle smile.

'All is fine, we just had to be sure.' I let out a relieved breath that I hadn't realised I'd been holding. Just one day of knowing I was pregnant, and already we'd been scared of losing the baby. How were we going to cope with the next few months? Nathanial's hand dropped my wrist as he climbed back into the bed, I dropped my fingers to my stomach and stroked gently across the still flat surface.

'What happened to Richard after I passed out?'

'They got enough guards in the room to overwhelm him and pinned him down until they got enough sedative in him to knock him out. He's being kept in one of the new cells underground that Jean-Claude had built for new shifters.' I nodded, and went back to gently trailing fingers along my stomach.

'Why did he loose it like that?' My voice was steady and clear, but I felt tiny and insecure. I knew that Richard hated me, expected it, but I never thought he'd physically hurt me. Never thought he'd physically hurt any woman outside of pack business. Nathanial, sensing my internal unease, wrapped himself more securely against the uninjured parts of my body and covered me with a blanket of his hair, coating me in the scent of vanilla and leopard. Micah rose up from the pillows and gave me his comforting weight at my back.

'We don't know. According to a few members of his pack he's been acting erratically all day before coming to the Circus.' Micah replied quietly, his chin resting against my shoulder as he leaned in and gave me a kiss in the hollow beneath my ear. It made me shiver, which then made me realise I'd probably need to feed the ardeur soon.

'He wanted to make me lose the baby, Micah. He said something about not letting his child be brought up by other men. Richard can not be let anywhere near us anymore, he'll do something stupid. Seriously stupid next time.'

'What he did this time was pretty stupid, Anita. Hurtful and dangerous and more than out of character for him. No one is going to let him anywhere near you now.' Micah replied, stroking his hands down my arms, lending me some of his warmth and calm, but underneath that was a fine anger at what Richard had done, what Richard had almost cost us. I could feel the same sort of anger, only more prominent, in Nathanial. Somehow, it was reassuring that they were both angry too. Somewhere along the metaphysical link between me and Jean-Claude, I could feel his relief that I was okay, and his own anger. He must have felt me probing along the connection and opened up his shields more to me.

'_Are you well, ma petite?' _His voice was calm and controlled, the image of him I looked down upon was of him sitting at his office at the Circus of the Dammed, he was looking up at me, his beautiful face as perfect as ever, his midnight blue eyes full of concern and care.

'_I'm doing okay, is Richard any calmer yet?' _I replied in my head, I'd gotten better control over the mind to mind talking recently, and it had been our saving grave more than a few times in the after math of my killing the Mother of All Darkness.

'_Not yet, for now he remains beneath the circus in one of the holding cells. He is guarded, and coming not ten feet near you. Do not worry, ma petite.' _His anger broke through his control, and mingled with his concern. I marvelled at his emotions and how much he was letting me see, and let him feel my gratefulness for allowing me this deep into his mind. I felt his love and compassion in return and basked in it for a moment, before s shrill ring of a phone pulled me away from our mental moment. Nathanial reached over to the chair beside the bed and plucked my phone from the pile of clothes there and handed it to me. A glance at caller ID told me it was the police and I sighed. This was the last thing I wanted right now.

'Yep?' I didn't say hello, because it was either Dolph or Zebrowski and neither of them ever said many pleasantries on the phone either.

'And good evening to you too, Blake.' It was Zebrowski, and although it was late and he sounded tired, amusement also laced his voice.

'What are you ringing for, Zebrowski?' My pain might have been at a minimum, but it was still there, and I so did not want to be involved in a police case right now.

'There's been another murder, Anita.' The amusement was gone from his voice now, and he just sounded tired and stressed. I couldn't blame him, two murders in two days was never a good sign.

'I thought you didn't want me in, on accounts of me being pregnant and all.' I replied, stifling a yawn and leaning back against Micah's chest, wrapping Nathanial and his hair tighter around me.

'Anita.' Zebrowski paused, which was unlike him, there was no humour in his voice. 'I know, but.. Well it's to do with that actually. That first murder, and now this one. They're both linked, and the link is.. Anita it's you.' I took a deep breath, that wasn't what I'd been expecting at all.

'How do you know it's me, Zebrowski?' My voice was tight with tension.

'Both woman were pregnant, and there is a note at this second scene addressed to you.'

'I've thought I was pregnant for two days, and known conclusively for one. How is that even possible?' I could hear the incredulous tone in my voice, laced with fear. I pushed myself away from Micah and Nathanial, moving towards my clothes and pulling them on one handed. Both the men followed suit, and then Nathanial went to find a doctor to discharge me while Micah sat and held my hand.

'We don't know, but it's addressed to you and both women were pregnant, like you. We need you to come down to the station and see the note.' Ah good, at least I wouldn't be seeing the crime scene this time. I didn't think I could cope with that again. I sighed.

'We'll be there in half an hour.' Zebrowski hung up, no good bye as usual. I turned towards Micah and let him wrap his arms around me.

'What's going on?' He asked quietly, his lips pressed against the top of my head.

'Someone is killing pregnant women, and leaving notes addressed to me at crime scenes. I need to go to the station and see the note.' Micah pulled back and looked at me, worry clouding his eyes.

'The first murder happened only hours after you did the test. No one outside of us, Jean-Claude and Nathanial knew by then.' I just nodded at him and stood up, tugging on his hand.

'Which is why we have to go see this note and figure it out, before any more of these poor women die.' Micah didn't say anything, just gripped my hand tighter and followed me out, gathering Nathanial along the way.


	6. Chapter 6

**Woo a forming plot line! Anywho, sorry its taken a while for me to ge this up here, i'll try and be more snappy with my updates.**

**Let me know what you think? :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series.**

* * *

Micah, Nathanial and I reached the RPIT headquarters half an hour later. Nathanial had driven, because I was still shaky, and in pain, and I hadn't fed my own ardeur in over 24 hours. When it came back, it would hit like a train, and I so did not want to be driving when it happened. We made our way up the steps leading to the offices with ease, no one stopped us, just nodded politely as we went on our way. I think I'd have rather they'd have stopped and talked, at least then I could have gauged the severity of some of the shit I was about to walk into.

Pushing open the door, there was a hush as people looked up and saw who it was. Everyone dropped their heads down fairly quickly, hardly keeping eye contact as we worked our way through the array of desks towards Dolph's office. Zebrowski appeared out of no where, just suddenly in front of us with a grim kind of smile on his face.

'Thanks for coming over so quickly, Anita.' He smiled at me, and then looked behind me to Micah and Nathanial. 'I hear congratulations are in order?' It was said quietly, subdued for Zebrowski, but I could still see his genuine happiness for us. Micah grinned back at him and nodded, reaching out to shake Zebrowski's outstretched hand. Nathanial did the same, and then Zebrowski scuttled forward, wrapped me in a hug and laid a brotherly kiss on my forehead. Dolph came out of the office just as Zebrowski was whispering in my ear.

'Today should have been a good day for you, Blake. I'm sorry you had to come down to see this.' I just nodded and stepped out of the hug, facing Dolph. We had decided on the way over that we wouldn't tell them what Richard had done, and that instead of celebrating for the past day, I'd been unconscious in the lycanthrope hospital. If they noticed I was injured, we'd make up some bullshit cover story. If they didn't, then well that would be super.

Dolph gave us all a similar grim smile as we walked towards him and followed him into his office. I left Micah and Nathanial in the chairs of the desk Zebrowski had apparently appeared from behind of. I sat down in the more comfortable of the chairs on this side of Dolph's desk and shot a thin smile at Zebrowski who was frowning at the uncomfortable chair beside me.

'You're a bitch, you know.' He grumbled under his breath. I just let out a choked laugh, and then turned my attention back to Dolph, who was lowering himself into his own chair across from us. His face was all serious as he reached into a drawer, pulled out a white envelope and tossed it across the desk to land in front of me. Zebrowski shut up, glancing between me and the envelope in front of us.

'Have you read it?' I asked, my voice didn't shake, but my insides were twisting. Who would be sick enough to slaughter pregnant women and leave me a note at the scene.

'Nope, thought we'd wait for you to get here.' Dolph replied, his eyes very serious. I picked up the envelope, it was good stationary, expensive, and my name in black cursive on the front looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen writing like that before. Slowly, I turned it over and peeled back the sticky fold. I looked back up at Dolph who just gave me serious eyes and a nod. Sucking in a breath, I pulled out the paper, equally as expensive stationary, and unfolded it. There was one single sheet, a short letter, but my heart sank anyway.

**I see you have found my note for you, Anita.**

**Knowing that you are pregnant by another man, one who is not your soul mate, has consumed me with a rage I can not suppress. **

**I suggest you rid yourself of this problem, and come and find me before anymore of these poor women suffer. If you do not, and I am forced to come for you, the scene in which we encounter will not be as sweet as the one I had envisioned.**

**You have three days.**

**Until then, Anita.**

**-Olaf.**

I had to reread it twice, as both the men sat and silently waited for me to finish, before the fear really began to kick in. I'd known one day that Olaf and I would come to the point where I would have to kill him before he killed me, but I never thought it would be like this. Did he think himself my soul mate? I tried to quell the shudder running through me, put the cold perpetrating my bones settled in deep and I couldn't help it. I ran over the first crime scene, the only one I'd been too, in my head. It had looked like claws had ripped that woman up, but I knew that Olaf was a master at blades. Maybe he'd found one that would replicate the injuries caused by a lycanthropes claws. Another shudder rippled over my body.

'Shit.' I whispered lightly.

'Anita, what the fuck is going on?' Dolph asked, I looked up and he was giving me blank cop face, waiting for me to explain. Zebrowski was doing the same.

'A sociopath serial killer who thinks I'm his soul mate wants me to get rid of my baby and go with him, or he kills more pregnant women and then hunts me down.' It sounded ridiculous and I said it, quietly, almost to myself. I let out a choked half sob half laugh and dropped the paper back down on Dolph's desk. I tried to slow my breathing as a wave of fear rushed over me. I couldn't have hysterics now, not when I had Olaf to deal with, and only three days to do it in. Zebrowski picked up the note and read it over while I tried to get some semblance of control over myself, and then he rose his face to look at me.

'Well, shit. Anita.' His eyes held horror and that purposeful look that cops get when they're on the hunt for a bad guy. I had a sudden image in my head of Olaf and Zebrowski facing off, and knew that it would not end well for my friend. This time, I repressed my shudder, but only just. Dolph held his hand out for the letter and Zebrowski handed it over quickly, hardly taking his eyes off me. Dolph read over it quickly, keeping his expression stilled as he absorbed what was written.

'Who is Olaf, Anita?' Dolph asked quietly, folding the letter back up and popping it in the envelope, leaving it in the middle of the desk. I considered for a moment. Olaf was known to them as Otto Jefferies, US Federal Marshal. I probably should tell them everything, but as far as I knew, Olaf was human and having to kill him on sight would be illegal. For me and for Edward, who I knew I'd have to call in for this.

'A very, very bad man.' I rose to my feet and swooped down to pick the envelope off the desk. I headed towards the door and pulled it open before Dolph realised I was planning on leaving.

'Anita, where the hell are you going?' He demanded as I stepped on foot outside of the office, 'You're our only lead on hunting this monster!' I paused and turned back to face the men in the office, both were on their feet now.

'He's not a monster in your terms, Dolph. He's human, and you're going to want to be able to claim plausible deniability over this, because the things I'll have to do to stop him will be a little less than legal.' Dolph was just about to come back with a snappy retort, but I raised my eyes to his and let him see the terror I was trying so hard to keep inside shine out of my eyes. He'd never seen me truly terrified before, and it stopped both him and Zebrowski in their tracks. I took the advantage and moved away from the door clutching the envelope to my side, Micah and Nathanial were beside me in seconds and we headed to the door.

'Anita!' Dolph shouted after me, but I pushed the door open and the three of us went down. I practically ran all the way down the stairs and flung myself into the cool air outside, gasping in deep breaths and once again trying to calm my breathing and bring my heartbeat down. Bringing the beasts right now would not be a good idea.

'Anita, Anita what's wrong?' Nathanial's arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me into him. Micah ran his hand soothingly in circles on my back while I got myself under control. I moved out of Nathanial's warm, comforting arms and away from the gentle weight of Micah's hand on my back and took a breath.

'We need to get back to the circus. Call everyone back. Right now, and I need to ring Edward.' Nathanial's eyes were concerned and worried, a little bit of fear was in there too, as he picked up on just how severe this situation might be.

'Edward… Anita, what's going on?' Micah wasn't giving me his emotions through his eyes, keeping them calm and unreadable.

'Olaf is coming for me.' I whispered, I had to clear my throat. 'I need Edward to help me hunt him first and kill him before he hurts me or anyone else again.' Neither of them said anything, just followed me as I turned towards the car. Nathanial pressed the button to open the doors just as I reached the passenger side, I was letting him drive again. We got back to the circus in record time.

I felt Jean-Claude wake as we were making our way down the weirdly shaped stairs into the circus, but I kept myself shielded up tight. All I could feel was his confusion as to why I wasn't letting him in, when for months I had greeted him metaphysically when I knew he had woken. I just continued on down the stairs and through the big door at the bottom of the steps that Graham held open. He might have made his usual crude comment, but I hardly heard it, I was too intent on reaching somewhere private and making a phone call. I was always surprised that we got reception this far down, but tonight I thanked God for it. Instead of heading towards the living room, I headed over to where Jason's bedroom was. I knew he wasn't in it, because I knew Jean-Claude was currently feeding on him in his room.

I told Micah and Nathanial that I needed privacy while I made the call, and they headed off to find Jean-Claude and update him on everything that they knew while I called Edward. I shut Jason's door behind me and flicked on the floor lamp just inside of the door. Flipping out my phone until I reached 'Ted Forrester' and pressed call, hoping he wasn't on a hunt or anything. On the third ring, he answered the phone, and he was at home. I could hear Becca laughing at something Peter had just said in the background, and Donna shouting that dinner would be ready soon. I had a moment of regret that I'd have to pull him away from his family for this.

'Anita, what's up?' His voice was somewhere between Edward and Ted, a voice he'd found as a compromise to work when he was at home with Donna and the kids.

'I need you to come to St. Louis and help me hunt someone.' I heard him give a little chuckle at my request.

'You always ring and give me fun news, Anita. What are we hunting, and why?' His voice had slipped slightly more into Edward, the sociopath assassin than the compromise or Ted voice, and for that I was glad. It was Edward I needed on this hunt.

'We're hunting Olaf, before I run out of the time he's given me and hunts me down instead.' Edward didn't reply for what felt like a very long time.

'What has he done?' The voice had gone all the way Edward now, and I could imagine in my head how he would look. His eyes would be cold, unfeeling, his face blank and unreadable.

'He has killed two petite, brunette, pregnant women and left me a note at the second crime scene.' I heard Edward move further away from the laughter of the children before he spoke again.

'Petite and brunette is his usual victim, but why pregnant and why is this personal to you?' Edward was far too perceptive, or he already knew. It had probably already gone nationwide, god damn media networks. I sighed.

'Because I'm pregnant, Edward, and he thinks I'm his soul mate. He wants me to get rid of the baby and find him in three days, or he'll kill more women and then come for me. Or at least that is what he said in his letter.' Edward sucked in a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

'I'll be on the ground in less than-' He paused and I could hear the sound of keys tapping, Edward was probably looking up flight times. 'I can be on a flight and in St. Louis by 7am.' Some tension in me eased once I knew that he would be here so soon.

'Thank you, Edward.'

'Don't thank me yet, we have to get the bastard first. Oh, and are we doing this as federal marshal's, or as illegal assassins?' It was a genuine question from him, and I could only give him one answer.

'Illegal.' He gave a low chuckle that made me shiver, sociopaths chuckling is not something you ever get used to.

'Oh good, that means I can bring you some new toys to play with.' As sick as it probably was to be excited by that, I was. Edward always brought me the best presents when he visited, some of my favourite guns were gifts from him. 'Where are you staying, I'll come straight to you once I land.'

'The circus, and thanks.'

'Alright, Anita. I'll see you in the morning.' He paused and I was just about to hang up before he continued, 'Oh, and Anita? Congratulations.' With that, he hung up and I was left to go and explain this new horrible, life threatening situation to everyone I loved.


	7. Chapter 7

Opening the door into Jean-Claude's bedroom led to a sight that made me stop and catch my breath. It was so rare to have almost everyone I loved gathered in one room and have them look so relaxed. The moment passed, though, when I realised that being relaxed meant that Micah hadn't told them what was going on. I sighed and went to perch on the side of Jean-Claude's bed. Nathanial dropped down beside my legs and cuddled in, Jean-Claude and Asher smiled at me from their position on the couch, Damian and Dev watched me from their respective seats either side of the them, and Jason curled in behind me on the bed. Nicky came in a moment after I sat down and closed the door, standing next to Micah against the wall.

'What is it that worries you tonight, _ma cherie_?' Asher inquired, his head resting against Jean-Claude's shoulder. I looked around at them all once more, glancing over my shoulder at Jason before taking a deep breath to consider how to say everything that needed to be said.

'The note, that was left at the second crime scene for me..' I paused, before continuing quietly, 'It's from Olaf.' There were collective murmurs from around the room, everyone sat or stood up a bit straighter, but I continued on. 'Somehow, he found out about the baby the night that I took the test. He's crazy, he thinks I'm his soul mate and wants me to get rid of the baby and go to him before he has to come hunting for me and other people get hurt.' Jason wrapped himself tighter around me, his hands overlapping around my abdomen. Everyone else had shifted closer to me, Nathanial cuddled closer into my legs until I dropped a hand down to stroke his hair. Jean-Claude and Asher rose from their seat and crossed to me in what looked like a move coordinated over centuries, and probably was. They took seats beside me on the bed and nudged Jason around a little bit until they could both wrap me in their arms.

'Oh, _ma petite_, I am sorry that all of these things are happening when we should be celebrating the most joyous news any of us has heard in a long while.' Jean-Claude whispered into my ear, I felt my eyes well with tears as his kindness and his comfort worked their way through me, but I blinked them away.

'It's okay, we'll deal with it and then we have plenty of time to celebrate.' I looked up and gave him a weak, watery smile which he returned.

'And what are your police friends doing about this?' Dev asked, both him and Damian had moved to the end of the bed and were listening intently.

'I didn't tell him who he was because.. Well- I've called Edward, he's coming to town tomorrow and we'll hunt him.'

'To what end, _ma petite_?' Jean-Claude questioned lightly, his arms squeezing just a little bit tighter. I felt myself slip into the start of the cold, empty, static place that I went while I killed. I felt rather than saw the reactions of the men around me as my eyes went cold and unfeeling.

'We hunt him, we kill him, before he kills me.' I felt the vampires approval of my choice, my decision. They wanted me to do anything and everything I could to keep myself and this child safe. The same emotions were coming from the others, except with more threads of doubt and worry. I stayed in that cold, unfeeling place while I considered what I would have to start tomorrow morning once Edward arrived, but eventually Jean-Claude coaxed me out of it with warm, wet kisses along my jaw line and the promise of a very long bath.

I was in a pile of what appeared to be almost the entire pard and a lot of the wolves when my phone began to ring. They'd joined me when the vampires left for dawn, and I'd welcomed their comfort. That, however, was ruined when the shrill ring of default church bells pulled us out of our warm sleep. There were growls and grumbles all around the bed before someone finally moved and picked the phone up from the top of the pile of clothes by the side of the bed. It was Zane who flipped it open and answered the call.

'Oh yeah, one second, I'll pass you to her.' I saw a twinkling of mischief in his eyes as he passed the phone over to Jason, who was three people away from me. He put the phone to his ear. They all knew, with their too keen hearing, who was on the phone and were apparently going to have some fun.

'Bit early, for a assassin booty call isn't it?' Jason murmured down the phone. I felt Nathanial's silent laughter working it's way in vibrations through all of the others and blushed when I realised it was Edward on the phone. I fought my way out of the arms of Nicky and Micah and almost climbed over everyone in order to pull the phone away from Jason. He laughed as he handed it over, I just glared half-heartedly at him.

'Edward?'

'Anita, do I even want to know how many men you have in your bed right now?' His voice was laced with amusement.

'Probably not,' I smiled at him down the phone, 'What's up, you need me to come get you from the airport?'

'No, I'm already here. Apparently your guards were given permission to escort me inside the circus, but not to where you are. I'm literally right outside your door now, but wolfy boy and nipple piercing won't let me in.' I tried to quell the laughter that bubbled up in my throat as I realised he was talking about Graham, and apparently Caleb, and I only just managed.

'One second, Edward.' I flipped the phone shut and crawled out of bed, scooping my robe up and sliding the silk on as I made my way to the door. There were calls for me to get back into bed, but I just shot them a smile and went to open the door. Graham and Caleb were stood on either side of the door with Edward between them. I smiled at them both.

'Let him in, boys. Thank you.' I retreated back into the room and waited for Edward to shut the door behind him and follow me in. I turned to look at him and the laughter I had recently avoided bubbled back to the surface as he took in the scene on the bed. Everyone was awake now, and looking at him with wary eyes.

'I think I should be lucky I only got two of them before you got to the phone.' Edward said, the same humour as earlier lacing his voice. I laughed once more before talking to him.

'Puppy piles are common place these days.' My own voice was laced with humour. 'Give me ten minutes to get ready and we can go to the kitchen and talk.' Edward nodded and went to take a seat in the armchair by the fire place, between the bathroom and the bed. He looked comfortable, but his eyes showed he was on guard. I thought he'd become more comfortable here after the time he spent with us after we returned from killing the mother of all darkness, but apparently not. I went to the armoire that Jean-Claude let us all keep out clothes in for sleep over's and picked out the usual, black jeans, red polo shirt, black belt. I was bending over to the draws to grab some underwear when a roll of nausea hit me. I dropped everything I was holding and went for the bathroom quickly, slamming the door shut behind me.

My entire body was shaking as I slumped down beside the toilet, resting my head on the seat. I reached a shaking hand up and pulled the flush before Nathanial knocked on the door and asked if I was okay.

'Come in for a minute, Nathanial, I need a hand up.' The door opened quietly, but quickly, and Nathanial pushed it shut as he came into the room.

'Do you think it's morning sickness, or something?' He asked quietly, dampening one of the clothes and kneeling down beside me, wiping the cool towel over my face before sweeping it over my mouth.

'Probably.' I groaned and then held my hands out to him so he could help me up. Nathanial stood and pulled me with him, but I swayed a little and he wrapped an arm around my waist. 'Why is it only just starting now, though?' I thought aloud.

'Maybe it's because you know for sure now, you're body can accept it or something.' Nathanial said, 'I'll call doctor North later if you want, and ask him?' I nodded and Nathanial gave me a smile, before helping me brush my teeth and bringing in my clothes to help me get dressed.

Half and hour, a glass of water, and some saltine crackers later I was sat in the kitchen with Edward.

'He disappeared from everyone's radar for about two months a while back after what happened with the Mother of All Darkness.' Edward explained, 'And when he came back, reports said he was stronger, faster, more agile than he had been.' I shivered at that thought, he'd been plenty enough of those things before. 'Reports say he's also working somewhat closely with a witch. She's been seen a lot with him. What's strangest of all about it though, is that she fits his vic profile but he's seemingly working with her like an equal.' Edward paused and looked up from the file he was reading from. 'Honestly, I have not got a single fucking clue what he's been up to, Anita.' I nodded and went back to considering, I thought about all the people in my life who were strong, agile, fast and the thought about the bloody ruin of the women at the scene I'd been to.

'I think he's turned.' My voice didn't shake, but it was quiet. Edward startled.

'What do you mean, turned? He's not a vampire, he's seen out in the day all time.' He replied, his voice uncertain.

'Not a vampire, Edward. A lycanthrope of some kind maybe.' I paused and considered what that meant for us now. 'Jesus, he would have been hard enough to hunt and kill without that.' Surprisingly, Edward reached out and brushed his fingers over mine on the table, offering a kind of comfort.

'Don't worry, we'll get him before he gets to you.' I looked up and met Edwards eyes, they'd gone dark and cold, empty and unfeeling, and for some reason, I felt safer. 'I promise.' He whispered, his voice the same empty void. All I could do was nod, and then we continued to plan.


	8. Chapter 8

Edward and I had finished talking tactics. We had a plan in place, kind of, that gave us exactly three days to find Olaf and kill him. Day one was today, and so Edward was going out scouting tonight while I had Ronnie search for any paper trails he might have left behind. Edward was going to leave me a list of alias that Olaf or the unknown witch might have used, It was a really long list. Before that though, he decided I deserved to see the gifts he'd brought me. I'd been looking forward to this all day.

He came in with four boxes, and I nearly bounced with excitement as he popped them down on the table in front of me. We were in the kitchen with Nathanial and Jason, and they were watching with a kind of amusement. Looking down at the first three boxes, I gaped at Edward. He'd known I'd lost all my favourite guns when the Mother of All Darkness was last trying to kill me, and had taken me out on the range when we'd gotten home to help me blow off some steam and show me some of the ones he thought I might like. Now, the three that I'd liked the most were set in front of me. The first was a Bersa-Thunder-mini, 9 mil, 7 rounds. A perfect backup gun. The second was a Zamorana pistol, double semi automatic 9 mil, also 7 rounds, but could be used as both backup and main. The third was my favourite from the range, a FN FNP .45 Pistol, 15 rounds. Big gun for me, but I liked it. They were all beautiful guns, and as I took the first out of it's box, already assembled, I gazed at Edward with awe.

'They're all custom built for your size and your sight. They're pretty much the perfect guns for you.' I gaped at him again and tried to get my wits about me as I picked up the second gun and admired that as well.

'Jesus, Edward. Thank you.' I looked away from the gun, to him, and smiled broadly. He laughed a little at me, while I put the Zamorana back in it's box and went for the .45. It was beautiful, and fit perfectly, it almost reminded me of how my Browning used to feel, but better. Edward threw a few boxes of ammo onto the table, and holsters for each of the guns, which just like them, would fit perfectly. I grinned at him again.

'So, if ammo and holsters aren't in the fourth box, what is?' Jason asked from his seat beside me at the table. He looked somewhere between disturbed and amused at my caressing of the new guns. Nathanial just looked amused. I looked up at Edward and he smiled at me, opening the box and pulling out what looked like little pieces of white sticky tape.

'Edward, what on earth is that?'

'This is something that you can stick in pretty much any room, anywhere, without it being noticed. You need just the tiniest strip of it.' I was a little confused.

'And it does what, exactly?'

'Well, whoever has the controller each piece is attached to can determine that, they can be either long range listening devices or small explosives.' Once again, I was left in a kind of stupor trying to figure out where on earth Edward got some of his equipment.

'That's pretty cool.' Jason said, looking impressed. Edward held out one of the little strips to him and he took it to investigate.

'Jesus, Edward, where do you get this stuff?' I asked, amusement in my voice.

'Ah, a magician never gives away his secrets.' Was all he replied.

Soon after that, once I'd put all the new weapons on and got adjusted to how they all felt, Edward was getting ready to leave. I'd already called Ronnie and given her a list of the names I needed her to check for in the city, but Edward was heading to some places he thought Olaf might frequent if he came into St. Louis. I was a little worried about him going out alone, but when I'd said as much to him, he'd told me that if I showed up with him and Olaf was there, too many innocent by-stander's would get hurt. I agreed with him, I didn't like it, but I stayed home to wait anyway.

Edward had been gone for just under half and hour when Jean-Claude woke for the night. I felt him come alive in my mind, and the shields between us had been down since I'd come out of the hospital three days ago. He felt my contentment and my happiness, along with an increased sense of safety and he chuckled at me along the metaphysical link.

'_Ah, ma petite, I see you have been graced with new gifts from Monsieur Edward.' _I laughed with him as his amusement to my happiness grew.

'_He brought some pretty nice new guns, and now he's gone out to see if there is anywhere in St. Louis that Olaf might be hanging out.' _Jean-Claude's mood darkened a little bit at Olaf's name, but happiness still flowed between us like it had since I'd found out about the baby.

' _I shall feed, and be with you shortly, ma petite._' He whispered through my mind before shutting me out slightly to feed from Jason, who had disappeared sometime during out mind to mind conversation. I was left sitting in Jean-Claude's living room, my head in Nathanial's lap while he ran his fingers through my hair. The touch had been comforting while I fed through Damian, who was over at Guilty Pleasures. We'd discovered that I could feed the ardeur from a distance through those joined to me if they were surrounded by a lot of lust. Sometimes it made things a lot easier, but it didn't mean I enjoyed doing it. I'd fed, and Nathanial had comforted me, and now I was content to just wait here and see where the night and this new hunt would take us. I could feel Jean-Claude moving towards us with Asher, they'd left Jason and another donor resting in the bed.

I felt, rather than saw, when they both entered the room, and turned over in Nathanial's lap to watch them both come closer. They were breathtaking, Jean-Claude in a red silk shirt and leather pants that look painted on. Asher also had on tight leather pants, but his shirt was pale gold and made his hair glitter even more. No matter how many times I saw them together, or separately, they both stole my breath. Asher leaned down over us and gave me a quick kiss before moving over to recline in the armchair by the fireplace. Jean-Claude's kiss lingered longer, and he saw down at the end of the sofa Nathanial and I were occupying. He took my feet into his lap and began to massage them, even though I didn't think I needed it.

'How are you, _ma petite_?' Jean-Claude smiled down at me.

'Okay, we spent the day planning how to deal with the situation, which wasn't super, but the new guns certainly made up for it.' Jean-Claude smiled indulgently at me. 'Oh, and I had morning sickness this morning, which is weird because Dr. North said to Nathanial when he rang that it usually doesn't start depending on whether the mother knew.' I crinkled my nose. 'I hope it doesn't last long, it wasn't great.' Jean-Claude gave a little laugh.

'No, I cannot imagine that it was pleasant, _ma petite_, but I'm sure it will not last too long.' I smiled up at him as he continued to gently knead the soles of my feet. I just laid there and enjoyed it, coupled with Nathanial's stroking my hair, and soon it felt like I was falling to sleep. The only thing I was really aware of was Jean-Claude and Asher conversing lightly in French. Everything was very relaxed, until once again, the shrill ringing of my phone interrupted things. I groaned and pulled away from the men, reaching over to pick my phone up from the table. Caller ID said it was Ronnie.

'Ronnie, surely you haven't found something already?'

'Maybe, Anita. Just one question, though. Why did you need me to check these for you?' Her voice was light, inquiring, but I knew that there had to be something she had to tell me. I sighed.

'I need to find him, Ronnie, he's another bad guy after me.' Now it was Ronnie's turn to sigh.

'Then you've got trouble, Anita, because the first name on this list just used his credit card.'

'Where, what for?' I let the inpatients seep into my voice.

'Entrance tickets, Anita.' She paused and I felt tension rolling into a knot in my stomach. 'Entrance tickets for the Circus of the Damned.'


	9. Chapter 9

I swore, hung up on Ronnie, and dialled Edward. He picked up on the third ring.

'Anita?'

'He's at the circus.'

'Shit.' He paused and I heard his tires squealing and other cars honking as he turned around.

'I'll be there in ten minutes.' Edward hung up the phone and I all but threw mine across the room. Jean-Claude and Asher, having heard the entire conversation, were talking to Claudia and Bobby-Lee, describing Olaf and organising guard groups to search the circus for him. Nathanial sat frozen to his seat on the sofa, looking worried at me as I paced beside the table. When Claudia and Bobby left in a hurry to start the search, Jean-Claude came quickly to stop my pacing, rubbing his cool hands up and down my arms in soothing motions. I shook him off.

'I have to get up there.'

'Non, _ma petite_, non.' Jean-Claude was looking at me with his blank beautiful face.

'I'm the only one here who could probably find him in that crowed, Jean-Claude! Edward can't be here for another ten minutes and we might not have that much time before he does whatever it is he is here to do!'

'We cannot risk you going out there into what is so obviously a trap, Anita.' His eyes had taken on a worried stubbornness that I had never seen before. I sighed, turned away and continued to pace. The three of them looked uneasily at each other a moment later, and I didn't understand why until Asher stepped away and pressed a button behind his ear. I'd forgotten we were all wearing little ear buds these days. I reached up and flicked my own on just as Jean-Claude was telling me not too.

'We've got guards down, send medics. I repeat, guards down!' Claudia's voice, although seemingly calm on the surface, showed signs of strain and worry. I glared at the others in the room, pulled out the new .45 and blew past them. None of them tried to stop me this time. Smart boyfriends.

I ran up the stairs and pushed my way through the employee entrance, into a crowd of people who apparently knew nothing of what was currently going on. I kept my gun close to my side, avoiding people as best as possible, and wormed my way around the edge of the crowd looking for Claudia. Instead, I found Edward pushing his way, five minutes earlier than expecting, in through the main entrance to the circus. His own gun out and held to his side as he began to make his way towards me. Suddenly he stopped. A panicked expression crossed his face as I watched him struggle to fight free of whatever invisible force was holding him. A wave of warmth flushed over me, and suddenly I felt weak, nauseous and dizzy. I turned into the direction I'd felt the wave of warmth come from to find a bloodied Olaf stalking towards me, a grim smile ghosted his mouth. I wanted to scream and fight to get away as he came towards me, arm outstretched. I flicked my eyes to Edward who was watching us with undiluted fear and anger in his face and his jerky movements as he tried again to pull himself out of whatever was holding him. I lost his gaze as a large hand came out and pressed itself against my chest, across my heart, and I looked up into Olaf's face. He looked overjoyed, shivers running through him as he played fingers in the blood his hand had left on my chest. I had the sense to try and call out metaphysically to anyone connected to me, but everything went dark before I got a reply.

I woke up slowly, cold and aching and apparently, naked. My vision swam in swarms of colours that reinforced the dizziness I was already feeling. I stood in the middle of a room that looked like an empty warehouse, my arms chained tightly above me, my feet touching the floor but also held down with tight chains. I felt panic roar its way through me, making my heart beat too fast and my mouth go dry, I pulled against my restraints with no success before someone spoke. I hadn't even realised there was someone else in the room.

'Olaf, she is awake.' A feminine, foreign voice called across the room from behind me. She sounded middle-eastern, and I was betting it was the witch Olaf had been spotted working with. I concentrated and felt the waves of her power flowing through me and their effects felt faintly familiar. I reached out along the metaphysical link connecting myself to my triumvirates and found a impenetrable block in my way, much like the one that had been there when Nicky's group of men had kidnapped me. The emptiness that made me feel caused me to whimper quietly before I could control it, and a dark chuckle came from behind me, followed by a more feminine giggle.

'She has noticed the block between her and the monsters, and it leaves her feeling empty.' The woman's voice stayed behind me, but heavy footsteps came up beside me, bringing Olaf into view before he stopped in front of me. His eyes wandered from my toes, along my entire body, before his cold eyes met mine and made me want to squirm and shiver in horror. Instead, I went for anger and defiance.

'You said I had three days!' I spat at him, trying once again to push past the metaphysical barriers, the woman behind me just giggled again.

'Ah, but that was before you called in _Death_, you intended to hunt and kill me with him at your side and I could not allow that Anita.' Olaf twisted Edward's pet name from the vampire's into something distasteful.

'You deserve to be hunted and killed.' My eyes and voice went cold, and I lifted my heavy head to look directly at him. I intended to put some kind of fear into him, instead he just smiled at me.

'I deserve to have my soul mate by my side, carrying my child, not that of a monsters. You would not grant me that willingly, so I will take it unwilling.' His own voice was so cold now that it ran over me like icicles. His eyes fell from me to the woman behind me and he nodded, a moment later I heard a door open and then slam shut. Locks slipped into place loudly, and then I was alone with Olaf. Slowly, he turned and rolled out a wrap that was laid out on the wooden table behind him. I strained to see what it was that was there, catching the shine of blades, their surfaces reflecting the harsh light of the industrial lighting.

'Is that how you killed those innocent women, did you finally figure out how to be as good as the monsters without being a your definition of one?' I growled at him, I expected my beasts to rise as my anger and terror did, but reaching out to them showed me a new block in my metaphysics, closing them off to me. Olaf chuckled and looked over his shoulder at me, his fingers tracing lines over the blades in front of him.

'No, that is one of Alana's powers, she can transform parts of people into animal without a skin or infection.' I watched as his eyes glittered, and wondered if he was imagining all of the ways he could damage, maim and kill people with her skills enhancing him. This time, I did not fight the shudder that rolled through me. Another dark chuckle was ripped from Olaf before he turned and gazed over his knives. What felt like a lifetime later, he pulled one from his holding with a flourish and turned to face me. He was running his fingers like a caress over the face of what looked like a very sharp, very polished, very silver hunting knife and he was closing the few steps between us.

Olaf stopped about six inches from where I was restrained, once again looking over me. He held the knife soundly in his hand, turned inwards so the blade was casually facing towards himself. I glanced down at it nervously and once again fought at my physical and metaphysical restraints to no avail. Slowly, he flicked the knife out towards me and pulled it lightly across the top of my chest, just above my breasts, as he spoke.

'I did not want It to come to this, I once told you that I would try for vanilla sex with you and I meant it. Until this.' His voice, although still cold and withdrawn, sounded almost wistful. I hedged my bets and went with it.

'We could still try that, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have called Edward in but you caught me off guard with those women. I'm sorry, please, I will try with you.' I put as much beg and whimper into my voice as I could, but the words left a bitter aftertaste. He glared at me.

'Do not lie, you insolent whore!' His free hand lashed out at me and came to blow with my face, rocking my head back. The knife against my chest pressed in deeper and I cried out as the blood began to make its way down my body. Olaf stepped back and sucked in a hiss of air. I raised my head as best I could, fighting the rising sickness and dizziness to look at him. He was watching the blood as it made its way from the wound and spilled down my breasts. I dropped my head back down, feeling it growing heavier, but caught a look at the bulge growing and pressing against his black jeans. The roll of sickness the rolled over me was extreme and I closed my eyes to fight the urge to throw up. It would do nothing to help the situation but make it worse, and the fact that it could get much worse than this was frightening. While my eyes were closed, and I was breathing deeply to try and control my body, I heard a zipper being pulled open. I froze, not daring to move, not daring to breath, as Olaf closed the space between us. I let out a horrible, scared whimper as he pressed both his knife and himself against me. His knife dug into my abdomen, just above the womb. He brushed himself against the front of my own naked area, being just tall enough to have to widen his legs a little to get where he wanted to be. I cringed and shuddered, fighting against everything holding me there. Hot tears threatening to spill down my face through tightly closed eye lids. His hot breath washed over my clammy, sweaty face.

'You should have just come to me when I asked, Anita. We could have been so wondrous together.' I heard that wistfulness back in his voice again and opened my mouth as if to speak, to see if I could delay this until someone could figure out where I was before this could happen, but Olaf had other idea's. I felt the first bite of his knife as he pressed it harder against my stomach, holding it between us. He looked down as the first spill of blood from my chest mingled with the opening of this new wound and then he began to manoeuvre himself into me. I started to scream.


	10. Chapter 10

Edward's POV

I felt terror like never before when I realised I couldn't move, that I just had to stand there frozen and watch as that sadistic, sociopath bastard left with Anita. I watched as her eyes filled with horror and she tried to cry out, to get away, before she went limp and he picked her up, darting out of view. As soon as he was out of my sight, I felt like the invisible binds around me loosened, I could start moving again, but before I could take half a step in the direction Olaf took Anita, the world greyed around the edges, a wave of dizziness hit me hard, and then everything went dark.

Coming round, I found myself laid on the sofa in Count Dracula's, Jean-Claude's, living room with Micah and his kitty eyes looking down at me with a mixture of concern, anger and worry. I always wanted to find those eyes creepy, but I never could. Maybe Anita's acceptance was rubbing off on me. As soon as that thought popped into my head, I shot up, getting to my feet. Another wave of dizziness hit me and Micah reached out to steady me until I could open my eyes again and stand alone. I'd never felt so drained, but the adrenaline was building inside of me, along with the worry and the terror, and the rage. Slowly, I turned to face Claudia, the guard stood closest to the exits and far away from the building storm growing from Micah, Nathanial, Jean-Claude, Asher, Damian and I. The rage felt tangible, like I could reach out and stroke it.

'Which way did he take her?' I growled out. Claudia's head snapped up and she took a step forwards.

'We were all caught in a similar sort of binding as you were, the last thing I saw was him heading for the hidden side exit, but we could do nothing to stop him.' Her voice was calm, controlled, but with a worried edge.

'Why are you conscious while I'm waking up down here?'

'Were-animal, more energy.' She explains, stepping back against the door. I sighed, rubbed my eyes and turned back to the men, Anita's men, behind me. Nathanial was whimpering into Damian's shoulder.

'I can't feel her, I can't feel her at all, it's all cold.' He was whispering into Damian's silk shirt. The vampire gently stroked Nathanial's auburn hair, but could say nothing comforting. This wasn't looking good.

'What does he mean, he can't feel her?' I turn to Jean-Claude, who is sat with his head buried in his hands, his eyes rimmed with pink tears.

'Our connections, metaphysically, have been closed off with some kind of spell. None of us can sense her energy with ours.' He explained, his voice shook with finely controlled emotions.

'Okaaay, so how much worse does this make everything if we take a while getting to her?' Everyone shuddered, and I swallowed, because again this wasn't looking at all good.

'It means she has no access to her extra strength, her fast healing, her energy. She is human weak in the hands of a monster.' Asher whispered, collapsing to his knee's in front of Jean-Claude, looking defeated. I let them have their moment while I assessed the situation in my mind. We had limited time, and limited information, but I had found something while I'd been out looking. For a while, I'd managed to trail Olaf, he'd been coming out of an old industrial estate when I found him, and I lost him somewhere near the river, but it was a starting point.

'I need you all to sort your shit right now.' I cleared my throat as four pairs of angry eyes and one pair of worried turned to me. 'Because we have a limited amount of time and warehouses to search that are already 15 minutes away from here.' I was surprised when it was Nathanial who spoke up first.

'You know where she is?' He whispered quietly, pulled away from Damian's shoulder and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

'I know that Olaf was in an industrial estate earlier today with his witch. It's as good a place as any..' Jean-Claude was on his feet now with Asher at his side, they were looking very serious, very focused.

'Where is this industrial estate, Edward?' Jean-Claude asked, his voice blank and slightly terrifying.

'Lalian Park estate, you know it?'

'Oui, Asher and I will fly with Damian. Take Micah and Nathanial and meet us there as soon as possible.' With that, the vampire's turned and left quicker than I could call out for them to wait. I sighed, ran my hand over my face and then went to go for my car, gesturing the other two men to follow me.

We'd been driving for 7 minutes and we were almost there, when I realised I was possibly taking two unarmed civilians into this fight.

'Micah, you armed?' He turned to me and nodded, pulling out the gun from the small of his back and checking it was loaded and ready to go, gripping it in his hand like it was a new life line. I twisted slightly to look at Nathanial in the mirror.

'You armed, Nathanial?' I doubted it, and was proved correct when he shook his head.

'Know how to fire a gun?'

'Yeah, Anita made me learn.' I chuckled inside at that, of course she did. I never understood why she wanted someone who took orders so perfectly to become more independent.

'Reach behind you, there's a Browning in the compartment just behind your head.' I watched both him and the road as he reached up, grabbed it and loaded it with ease, slipping the other ammo into his pocket. I smiled, Anita had trained him well at least. About a minute and a half later, we screeched to a stop in the first parking lot inside the maze of warehouses. Jean-Claude, Asher and Damian appeared just ten feet in front of the car and waited for us.

'Which warehouse is it?' Damian barked out, his face etched with line of what looked like both pain and worry.

'Never saw which he came from, we need to do as quick a search as possible. Are you connections to her not coming back or anything?' I mentally shook myself, working along side the monsters to save the monster killer than lived with the monsters was all very strange.

'It does not work with proximity, the walls are still in place. I can, however, smell blood.' Jean-Claude's accent was heavy as he drew in a deep breath and growled. 'It's Anita's blood.' I shuddered and the turned in the direction he was pointing, a dark, abandoned looking warehouse that stood crooked in the middle of a row of identical warehouses.

'You're sure it's that one? We might not have the time to screw this up.'

'I can smell her blood and her fear and her rage. It's that one..' Nathanial whispered to me, clutching the gun to the side of his leg like he'd been taught, pointing the barrel to the ground.

'Okay.' I shuddered again at the thought of what we might find inside of this building. 'Asher, Jean-Claude, can you take Nathanial and head up the back. You guys are preternatural and have more 'energy' than me so the witch is less likely to have such a huge effect on you guys. Damian, Micah, with me. We'll take the main door.'

All of them considered me for a moment, weighing what I'd just said and probably whether they could trust me. A moment later Jean-Claude nodded and Nathanial and Damian swapped places, a sharp nod later and we took off in our separate directions, all of us hoping gotten here in time.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello! I know i've been slow on the updating a little bit recently, i'm trying to keep up with my usual pace and standard but i spend more time in hospital than at home at the moment and it's hard to recover, keep your muse and try to lower your pain levels all at the same time. Anyhow, i hope you enjoy this, and let me know what you think? :)_  
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_**Anita's POV**_

I felt Olaf dig his knife in a little deeper, not yet deep enough to cause major damage, but the pain was almost blinding. More and more waves of terror and helplessness rushed over me as I felt him try to concentrate on both his tasks. The pain flooding my body making it hard to focus. The bite of the knife was making blood spill hot between our bodies, the blood flowing from the chest wound slipping down to join it. He pressed himself against my opening and took a breath, looking up at me with his eyes filled with pleasure and excitement. It made me sick. How could anyone get off on something like this? It was then that I realised that being terrified and unable to fight is what he wanted from me, and I couldn't give him that. It would mean he had won, and that was not okay with me. I pushed my fear aside, along with the pain the knife and his pressing against me was causing, and met his eyes with a cold, empty glare. The pleasure in his eyes faded, a mad glint instead taking it's place. I felt him begin to slide the knife through my skin like it was hot butter and gathered my strength, jerking back harshly as much as my restraints would grant me. His knife pulled out of my stomach with a sickening sound that brought a cry from me, but having an inch or two between our naked bodies was almost worth it, until I saw the anger contorting his face.

His fist closed around the handle of the knife as he brought it up and struck my face with it. I felt white hot pain blossom across my cheekbone and realised how long it had actually been since anything physical had hurt this much, how long it had been since I'd truly had to worry about how much someone was hurting me. Cut off from all of my metaphysic links, I had nothing left to protect myself with. Olaf's fist flew out again and struck my ribs, my breath was sucked from my chest as I tried to scream, the sickening crack of bones making the world gray for a moment.

'You stupid little bitch. You shouldn't have done that!' Olaf growled menacingly, 'You've only made it worse for yourself.' The evil smirk that played across his face made my mouth grow dry and wish I'd just let him kill me the easy way. Whatever he was going to do now was going to hurt a hell of a lot more, and what he'd been doing in the first place had been damn near unbearable. His smirk grew wider as he watched new waves of terror momentarily stun me, but I started to push it away and let myself sink into the beginnings of that cold white static that I went to when I killed, hoping it would help dull some of the pain. I watched as he held out the hand that wasn't holding the knife and hovered it above the deep incision in my stomach. His smirk grew manic for a second, and I closed my eyes to brace myself before he plunged already blood slick fingers into the wound he'd made. I couldn't help it, I screamed as his fingers explored the gaping hole of skin, muscle and blood, as he pulled and dragged his fingers through it making the pain more prominent, the blood flow freer, the skin tear more around the edges.

Eventually, he pulled his fingers out and I heard him panting harshly through the roar of blood in my ears. I felt sick and faint, but nothing that good was going to happen. My body wasn't going to allow me to black out for this, so I opened my eyes and gave him what I hoped would be my most terrifying glare. Instead, he just laughed breathlessly and I watched as he took a blood covered hand and began rubbing himself, his eyes fixated on the parts of my body that blood was flowing freely from. I watched as he grew more and more erratic, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier, and something inside me snapped.

I felt the wall over the power that terrified me the most come crashing down around me, I felt the way the cool power of the most ancient vampire flowed through me, changing my eyes to pure black. Olaf was too lost inside his own pleasure to realise that anything had changed. The power wormed its way back into every crevice of my body as it had when I'd first taken it into myself, only this time I was in control. The Mother of All Darkness's energy inside of me did not like this man laughing at our pain, taking pleasure from our pain, trying to rip life away from us when all we had ever done was try to create new forms of it. Normally I would have fought this, but tonight I welcomed it. I took the extra energy, pulled it into the core of myself and felt my muscles bunch as I pulled on the chains holding my arms tightly above my head. They snapped easily, and Olaf's eyes flew open.

For a moment he looked confused, then something like fear marred his features, but it soon turned to disgust as he took in my midnight eyes and the way my power flowed tangible around me.

'What kind of _monster_ are you?!' He twisted the word monster into something abominable, and started backing away from me. I glowed at him, sending out tendrils of power that whipped at him. Olaf had never been a psychic null, and now with the interference of the witch, he could feel it as if he were actually a were. He flinched, trying to figure out how to stop the pain that was assaulting him. I yanked my legs free of their restraints and stumbled forward a little. He laughed again as I spent a moment to collect myself.

'All that power and you can't even stand straight. Pathetic.' He sneered at me, standing up straighter and clutching his knife in his hand. Anger washed through me, adding to the rage and the power already building inside of me. I was waiting for my moment to strike as he gathered his confidence, beginning to make small movements towards me. He wouldn't realise until too late how stupid an idea that was. Olaf was a foot away from me as I began to unleash more and more tendrils of power to whip at him, hard enough to draw blood across his pale, sweaty skin. It poured in thick, red lines across his bare body that made me feel both sick and faintly hungry. Yet he still kept approaching me, his knife held tightly in his hand.

'You'll pay for that.' Olaf whispered, his voice controlled, threaded with some sociopath quality that I hoped I never mastered. His evil smirk was back, and I couldn't understand why when he could feel the amount of power I had inside of me right now, until I felt a whip of power back. It wasn't his, it felt warmer than any power Olaf would have contained, but It felt familiar. Like something that was inside of me. The witches. It was borrowed, but it was strong. I felt my skin split across my back as he began letting out his own tirade of power whips to battle against mine. Each of us unwilling to give up. Whoever this witch was, she was more powerful that I could have ever imagined it she could lend him this much power and still be alive herself.

I felt myself tiring, the power receding in increments. My body was battered and bruised, I was bleeding from more wounds that I could account for and I was becoming weaker. Hardly able to stand, I fell to my knee's three feet from him and tapped into what little energy I had left to give without killing myself. I threw spears of power that drew deep spurts of blood from parts of his body, but each time I felt the world gray a little more around the edges. The dark spots in front of my eyes became deeper, the only thing keeping me from falling into unconsciousness was the pain that Olaf and his borrowed power were inflicting on me, and the lingering tendrils of power inside me that were trying to keep me alive enough to fight back for a moment more.

Hope, power and willpower were fading fast, and I was all but ready to concede to his victory over me until I heard the gunshot ring out and the power around Olaf decreased. He cried out, and the pain he was throwing at me was leaving. The dark spots were growing, but I was still alert enough to realise that it wasn't Olaf that had been shot. It was the witch, and I was still in danger. But if the witch was dead, that meant someone was here to save me. Edward. It had to be Edward. Relief washed over me for a second before I saw Olaf begin to close the space between us.

Two feet, my breathing began to hitch as the terror took me over again. He took another big step, closing another foot between us. One foot, his eyes glimmered with rage and pain, his mouth twisted into a grimace. Another step and he was inches from me, towering over me with his knife in his hand. I mustered up everything I had left, not enough to fight back in any way, but enough to scream. Enough to let Edward know to be quick, to let him know where I was. It was enough, because a second later there was incoherent shouting, and three consecutive gunshots rang out. I felt relief as Olaf's face disappeared from my line of vision, before the pain grabbed me again, the world span, and then everything was blissfully dark.


	12. Chapter 12

**This is probably going to be the last chapter from Edwards POV. We're going back to Anita next time :)  
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**Anyways, i hope you enjoy it.**_**  
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_**Edward's POV**_

It was approximately 32 steps to the front of the warehouse we were heading for, and we were 19 steps forward when Nathanial fell to his knees and cried out. A second later, the same cry echoed from the direction the vamps had gone in, with what little knowledge I had of the triumvirate, I figured it was probably Damian.

'Nathanial, Natty come on. What's wrong?' Micah was crouched by the side of his fallen pard mate, one hand on his shoulder, the other still grasping his gun. Nathanial took deep, calming breaths, his violet eyes blinking away tears.

'She's breaking down the walls, but it's the Mother's power she's using. God, Micah, can't you feel it. She's so angry and scared.' Nathanial whimpered again, Micah hugged him into him for a second before standing and holding out his free hand to him.

'Come on, Nathanial, we have to help her now before this gets any worse.' Micah whispered. I agreed with Anita, Micah's practicality was one of the best things about him. Nathanial took another deep breath, rolled his shoulders and then let Micah help him up. A second later, we took out twentieth step and were back on our way to saving her. Although, from what I'd just heard, she might be in the business of saving herself right now.

It took less than thirty seconds to jog to the door of the warehouse, and then a little more than that for Micah to listen against the cold metal of the door and listen for whatever was going on inside.

'She's… I don't know what's happening, but it sounds like they're both hurt.. There's blood but..' He took a deep breath, tasting the air. 'It's not all Anita's. She's fighting back somehow.' I mentally smiled to myself, of course she was, this was Anita. She always survived. Micah stepped back from the door to stand beside Nathanial, both of them holding their guns towards the door like they know what they're doing. Good, tonight was not amateur hour. I thought there was a high possibility I'd have to kick the door in, given that I hadn't brought the lock pick with me, but a twist of the door handle swung the door open inward. That bastard was so arrogant that he'd left the door open, assuming we wouldn't find him. It was probably going to be the last mistake he made.

Stepping inside, it felt like I was being battered and whipped by invisible ropes. Both Nathanial and Micah shuddered and looks of pain crossed their faces. It was power, and damn, it was strong because I was feeling it. Anita had always described me as a psychic null, I'd never felt power like this before, and I never wanted to again. The power was distracted from, however, when a door on the opposite side to where the vamps would be coming from opened, and in stepped the witch Olaf had been spending so much time with. I felt anger flow through me, for her trapping me with her power, for her trapping Anita with her power, for letting this happen. I turned to her and held the gun perfectly steady, aiming for the spot between her eyes. She froze when she saw us, but didn't look worried. I felt the beginning's of the power from earlier begin to creep its way towards me, and my arms began to lower. I wouldn't get the shot off before she got to us, and then we'd all be screwed. The terror from earlier washed over me again, but only for a moment, before a gunshot to my left rang out, the power drifted away, and the wicked witch of the fucking west dropped to her knee's holding now blood covered hands to a brand new bullet hole in her chest. I glanced a look sideways to see Nathanial stood with his feet shoulder width apart, his gun held steady in a two hand stance, I watched as he looked down the sight and pulled the trigger again, this time aiming for the same spot between the eyes as I had. The witch fell forwards, the power levels lowered a little, and we had a moment of reprieve. Then Anita screamed.

We turned in tandem to see Anita, blood soaked, heavily injured, barely conscious, and with Olaf towering above her with a knife in his hand. He was slowly advancing on her, and I watched as her strength began to fail her. Slowly, she collapsed more and more, her eyes fluttering in a desperate attempt to stay conscious. Micah, Nathanial and I raised our guns together, each aiming for a different part of his body. I heard a door rip open on the other side of the room and watched as Jean-Claude, Asher and Damian poured into the room, and then we took our shots.

Nathanial hit Olaf's shoulder, I hit just left of his spine and Micah went for the right knee-cap. Somehow, unspoken, we had decided to leave him incapacitated but alive. I was betting they both knew what I did, that when Anita woke up, she'd want to kill him herself. Anita had crumbled unconsciously, I hoped it was just unconsciously, to the floor completely once Olaf had been out of her line of sight. He was now groaning, writhing weakly against the floor in a pathetic attempt to somehow get away. Asher and Damian had moved to crouch beside him defensively, and they were angry. Snarling at him, snapping jaws and letting their eyes grow old and empty and cold. I had never been more glad for that sight. I joined them, standing over Olaf's head with my gun pointed right between his eyes.

Jean-Claude was cradling Anita's head in his lap, brushing blood matted hair away from her pain, blood streaked face and feeling for a pulse at the same time. He must have found one, because the relief on his face was painfully clear. A tension I hadn't know I'd been holding rolled out of my shoulders at the confirmation that she was alive, and then I went back to sighting down my gun and Olaf's bloody face. His entire body looked like it had been whipped, the deep wounds bleeding profusely. Anita's body was covered in the same kind, along with a few that were obviously Olaf's blade work. The deepest of those was right across her stomach, and I swallowed past the nausea building as I thought what she might have lost because we hadn't been here sooner. I might not have been particularly ecstatic that she'd mated with the monsters, but she was, and it would kill her to have lost her child to this bastard.

Nathanial and Micah, now shirtless, were holding their clothes against the deepest of the wounds they could see on her and pressing as much of their skin against her. It wasn't sexual, it looked like they were trying to keep her warm with their bodies, and I was glad. I knew that lycanthropes needed their animals near during healing, and right now it looked like Anita needed all the help she could get. All we could do now was wait, either until Anita woke up to tell us what to do with Olaf, or we urgently needed to get her to a hospital. We probably should already be doing the latter, but she'd be pissed if we didn't give her the kill. I knew that much, so we waited, and I stared into the cold eyes of that sick bastard and prayed that Anita would wake up in time to watch the life drain from his eyes herself.

I didn't have to wait long, it was only a few moments later when she began to flicker and fight her way out of the three men holding her. Her eyes were flickering open, and she sat to look at the writhing mass of bastard on the floor. The power began to build again, and she raised black eyes to stare at me. God damn, she was pissed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello :) We're almost at the end of this one. There will probably be one more chapter after this one and then Marmee Blake will be done with. It will not, however, be the end for this story line. It's only the first in a series i'm calling 'The Children' so i hope you have enjoyed this one enough to stick around for the next installment.**

**Anywho, i hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

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My eyes flickered open slowly as I fought against the darkness. Jean-Claude, Micah and Nathanial surrounded me, their hands on pulse points in my body, soothing me and checking I was alive at the same time. For a moment, I was content to lie there and let them fuss, because the pain was almost unbearable. There wasn't a part of my body that wasn't slick with blood, the sting and burn of cuts caused by knives and power made it difficult to move at all. At first.

Then I heard pained, panting breaths coming from somewhere not far from where I lay. I heard the squirm of an injured body against concrete and the safety of a gun being let off, the growling and snapping of vampires. Putting the parts together in my head summoned the last of my reserves of the Mother's energy. I felt my eyes turn dark again, and fought my way out of the hands and bodies of the men I loved. The pain that had been overtaking my every thought now a distant memory as my rage at the squirming, injured, naked man on the floor entered my line of vision. They'd left him alive, and I couldn't figure out why until I looked up and met Edward's eyes. They were dark but amused, and faintly proud. He'd made sure Olaf stayed alive, so I could kill him myself.

Good.

Fluidly, I rose to my feet, ignoring the protests of my men and the sound of my blood dripping heavily from my naked body onto the floor. Pushing past Asher and Damian, I hovered over Olaf's injured body, taking in the older marks of whips of power, and the newer bullet holes I could see in his body. I smiled. He was in pain, suffering, but alive. Good. I knelt over him then, my knee's on either side of his legs. Edward had backed off, they all had, understanding that I had to do this myself.

Olaf raised his head to look at me, his expression somewhere between pain and pleasure, and it made me feel sick. I fought it down, I was not going to let him get to me anymore. Slowly, I reached out beside me and picked up the knife he'd dropped, running it's blood covered blade through my fingers as they all watched on. Olaf's eyes were wide and dark, like he couldn't grasp quite what was going on. His semi-erect penis, despite the pain, indicated that me kneeling over him like this meant that he'd won, he'd gotten me to comply. The look in my eyes, and the uncertainty in his was telling me now he wasn't so sure.

Looking up the line of his body, I felt revolted. He'd tried to kill my child, I was unsure as to whether he had succeeded. He had tried to rape me, he had tried to kill me. Olaf had to die, and I felt no guilt at that. I drew the knife lazily up the inside of his thigh, and he shuddered in what I could only assume to be pleasure. I'd felt it from Nathanial enough times to know it, and it made me feel even more nauseous. That was, until I drew the knife up even further, and rested it against the bottom of his shaft.

'Anita.' He managed to choke out, the uncertainty returning to his eyes.

'Why?' I demanded quietly. He didn't reply for what felt like forever, so I repeated, pressing the knife harder into his skin and drawing the first drop of blood.

'We're soul mates.' He gasped. 'If I can't have you, no one can.' There was a renewed faith behind his words, a faith I wanted to carve out of him. I drew the knife up his still semi-erect length, cutting deeper than I'd expected and drawing blood. His weakened state couldn't cope with it, it was the first scream I'd heard from him, and it made me smile. Dropping the knife by my side once he'd finished screaming, I leaned over him and gathered all the extra energy I had left inside of me. Pulling it into myself, and then pushing it out, crushing him with it, concentrating it on him. Slowly, his throat constricted, his oxygen was cut off. Olaf's hand scraped at the floor, at the air, his eyes began to roll back and his body begin to settle before the extra power dissipated and I could keep it up no longer. If I wanted him dead by my own hand, I'd have to do it now. Quickly.

'Edward?' He stepped into my line of vision and crouched beside me.

'Anita?' He reached out, but I flinched away.

'Give me your gun.' Edward's forehead crinkled, and a frown appeared in the corners of his mouth.

'Anita- You can hardly hold yourself up..-'

'Give me your gun, Edward.' My voice was empty, cold. My eyes the same, although now devoid of the darkness the Mother's energy had given me. Visibly, Edward swallowed as if to argue, but smartly, he didn't. Instead handing me his Berretta and stepping away again. Feeling the weight in my hand let me feel just how hurt I was, just how exhausted I was, but I ignored it. Grasping the gun in both hands, I lowered it to rest against the centre of Olaf's head, between his eyes.

'You're nothing to me, I hate you. And I'm glad I get to kill you.' Olaf's oxygen deprived brain struggled to comprehend, but once I saw understanding dawn in his eyes I fired. Blood and thicker things flew everywhere, coating me in the blowback, but I continued to fire. I wasn't feeling, I had my eyes clenched shut, not thinking about continuously pressing the trigger but doing it on autopilot.

It wasn't until Edward grasped the gun and yanked it out of my hands did I come back to awareness.

'You're dry firing , Anita. The gun is empty and he's dead. Anita! He's dead, you can stop.' Slowly I opened my eyes and looked up at Edward, and then down at the mess that had once been Olaf. His entire head was gone, and some of his upper chest. Tiredness washed over me, with pain following not far behind. Dizziness over took me and I swayed, my vision darkening around the edges. Someone behind me spoke.

'Edward, grab her, she's about to pass out.' I heard two people move at once, one pair of warm arms, and one cool, wrapped around me. Pulling me away from the dead body of Olaf and holding me up until the darkness once again took me completely.

* * *

I was in a hospital, and for a place that was meant to be peaceful and conductive to healing, it was incredibly loud. The beep of a machine to my right, the drip of an IV in my left arm. The breathing of the two very warm people in the bed with me, and at least two others somewhere else in the room. Awareness was not something I was striving for, not when I could feel the pain in my half-conscious state. I was dreading how bad it would be in a moment, when full consciousness was going to force me to open my eyes and feel it all to its fullest extent.

Flickering my eyes open was my first mistake, the light in the room felt like it was searing my eyes, which drew a whimper from me unexpectedly. Arms carefully tightened around me.

'Anita?' The one on my right whispered. It was Micah, his arm was wrapped just under my breasts and his face directly next to mine. I could feel his warm breath against my cheek.

'Micah?' I managed to rasp out. 'The lights.' I continued. I wanted to open my eyes, see how bad the damage was, but I couldn't do that if the light stayed so bright. Someone in the room understood, because I heard swift movement not far from me and the pressure of the light outside of my eyelids lessened. Slowly, carefully, I opened my eyes a fraction at a time until they were fully open to a semi-lit room. A glance around told me I was in the lycanthrope hospital, and that other than Micah, there was Nathanial in bed with me, and Damian and Jean-Claude to the right of my bed. Jean-Claude lifted a cup with a straw to my mouth and let me take a few sips, the cool water sliding down my throat soothing a scratchiness that told me I'd been out for at least a couple of days.

'How long?' Nathanial snuggled in closer to my side, nuzzling his face into my neck. I turned to look at him and he gave me a gentle smile.

'A little over a week.' He answered quietly. I swallowed. It had been a long time since I'd been hurt enough to be unconscious at all, that I'd been out a week was a bad sign.

'How bad is it?' I whispered. Jean-Claude stood and leaned down, grasping my hand and laying a gentle kiss against my knuckles.

'Most of your injuries have healed, you will have very few, if any scars. The reason you were unconscious so long was because of the depletion to your energy levels. We have spent this week feeding energy into you so you would have to power to come back to us.' He replied gently, his hand still grasping mine. 'How do you feel?' His thumb now brushing gently against the side of my palm.

'Tired, achy, but better than I expected.' Swallowing, and tightening my grip on Jean-Claude's hand, I prepared myself for the answer to the next question I would have to ask. 'The baby?' I whispered.

'The babies are fine, ma petite.' He whispered. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding, relief washing over me, a moment before the confusion did.

'Wait..' I struggled to sit up, letting Micah and Nathanial support my back as I turned to look shocked at Jean-Claude, who had a knowing, gentle smile on his face. 'Babies? As in, plural, more than one?' Nathanial chuckled into my neck, Micah laid a kiss on my cheek. I was speechless from there.

'Oui, the doctor said that the littler one was hiding behind its sibling, their heartbeats are so in sync we can not tell the difference between them, it is the reason it was not seen the last time.'

'Tw..Twins?' I didn't meant to make it a question, or say it at all really, but it slipped out. A new wave of worry was washing over me, and Damian reached out, his hand finding my leg beneath the blanket and extending his calm to me. It came over me slowly, giving me time to think rationally. Right, twins, we could do this. We had to do this, it was too late to turn back now. I smiled my thanks back up at him. Then glanced at the other men with me, all of them holding me one way or another.

'Twins.' I whispered again, more a statement this time, a smile turning at the corner of my mouth.


	14. Chapter 14

** And here we have it, the final chapter to the first part of this series. I do hope you've enjoyed it enough to stick around while i polish down the idea's for the next part. Thank you for all the reviews and support, you have all been amazing!**

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The police waited an entire week to come and find me. I was back at work for Animators Inc. and getting on with my life, I neither knew nor cared about what had been done to Olaf and the witches bodies but I knew they'd never be found. Even if they were by some miracle, I highly doubted there would be any evidence linking any of us to their murders. Still, I was hardly surprised when both Dolph and Zebrowski turned up at the office. I'd been ignoring their calls since I'd gotten out of the hospital, and I'd been lucky to not have been called in on another case. But work was the one place I couldn't avoid them.

'Anita.' Zebrowski nodded, coming cautiously into the room and taking the left seat on the other side of my desk. I stared at him a second before turning my attention to Dolph, who'd remained stood in my door way staring at me. Even with my enhanced healing and being surrounded by as much otherworldly energy as possible, I had a huge greenish bruise across my jaw and cheek from where Olaf had hit me.

'Are you going to hover there or are you going to sit and tell me what the fuck you're doing here?' I asked Dolph, who flinched, but then squared his shoulders and came to take the other seat in the room.

'How'd you get that bruise?' Dolph asked, back to letting his eyes wander over my face.

'A bit of sparring went wrong, we got a bit rough.' I replied, crossing my hands over each other on my desk and glancing between the two of them.

'Liar.' Zebrowski muttered quietly. I turned my gaze to him sharply until he looked away.

'I'll ask again, what are you doing here?' I turned my attention back to Dolph, who was now looking at me with an empty blank cop face.

'There's been no more murders.' I nodded.

'That's a good thing, I'm glad.' I replied, giving him my own version of cop face and making my voice as bland as possible. I could feel his anger inching up a notch.

'Its been more than three days.'

'Since the last time I saw you? Yeah, I know.' I gave him a puzzled look like I had no idea what was going on.

'What did you do to Olaf, Anita?' Dolph's voice was cracking with his anger now, his hand fisting in his lap.

'Olaf who?' I asked, keeping my entire body and voice as neutral as possible. Dolph stood, throwing his chair back with the movement.

'What did you do to him Anita? I knew something was happening when your friend Marshall Ted Forrester came into town. Tell me what happened!' His face was turning red, his hands mottling with the strength he was clenching his fists.

'I have no idea what you're talking about. Ted came into town because he, Stephen and Gregory are friends and it was their birthday last week.' That was the first truth I'd told. It had been Gregory and Stephen's birthdays last week, and they'd both say that Ted had flown in to see them if they were asked. Edward had actually come to like them when he'd stayed after the whole Mother of Darkness fiasco. Dolph's anger was filling the room, his arms shaking slightly as his side. Zebrowski watched us both quietly.

' I could arrest you and take you in for interrogation.'

'On what grounds? With what proof?' I asked him, my entire being still not giving anything away.

'The letter is proof enough.' Obviously he'd forgotten I'd taken that with me when I'd left, and I knew through contacts that no images had been taken of it at the scene. Dolph had picked it right up off the body, taken it and then called me into RPIT. Breaking protocol, but very useful.

'What letter?' I asked, my voice was now about ten degree's cooler and I watched as he thought it through, finally realising what I'd done. He had no proof, no body had proof.

'Damn it!' He roared, slamming his palms down on the table and glaring at me, before turning and storming out the door. Zebrowski flinched, I didn't. A minute of silence passed before Zebrowski stood up and made his way to the door, but he paused before he left and turned around.

'Anita..'

'Don't, Zebrowski.' I replied tersely. Directing my attention to the paperwork lying on my desk. I heard him moving closer to the desk again and looked up to find him with his hands leaning down on the back of the chair he'd just vacated.

'Just answer me one thing?' He asked quietly. I sighed internally before giving him a slight nod.

'Did you kill him?' His voice was blank, his eyes cold. I just stared at him, letting my own eyes fall into that empty coldness I knew people saw when I was looking down the barrel of a gun at them. Eventually, Zebrowski looked down and took a deep breath, before raising his eyes back up to look at me. They were gleaming with an emotion I couldn't place.

'Good.' His voice was cold, as empty as I'd ever heard it. Matching my own. I stared at him slightly shocked as he turned and left without another word.

* * *

The next month went fairly quickly. I hadn't heard anything else from Dolph, and I hadn't been called in on any cases. Since the higher ups had found out I was pregnant, damn the national news, they dropped the amount of executions I'd had to do and Bert had made sure that my well being was his main concern for once. It wouldn't do for the nations god damn human servant-slash-executioner-slash-animator get too overworked.

Zebrowski rang at least once of fortnight on the pretence that Katie was making him check up on us and see how the babies were doing. I figured it was probably true, Katie certainly wore the pants in that relationship. In all honestly, I missed working with him. I missed working with the police, never mind how gruesome it could get, but I wasn't willing to purposefully put myself in with their investigations when things could get dangerous. I had more than my own body to worry about now.

We'd made sure now that only Dr. North found out my dates for appointments, so that none of his nurses could go about spilling things to the tabloids again. We'd also moved appointments to night time hours so Jean-Claude, Asher and Damian could come along if they wanted to. They were slightly over-bearing, having never really dealt with pregnant women before, and Jean-Claude had somehow fixed it so that I was having scans, blood tests and other nonsense done on a weekly basis. His excuse had been that we'd never been able to predict a single thing in our lives before, why take the chance for something to go wrong now when it didn't have to. I couldn't argue with that, so I let him fuss, I let him make the appointments.

Nathanial made sure that I had three square meals a day if I could face to eat them. Morning sickness was plaguing my life even though we'd now surpassed the first trimester, when most women claimed it had stopped. It also couldn't really be called 'morning' sickness, given that at any given moment, day or night, I could suddenly feel sick. It was exhausting, but Dr. North told me it was normal, so I sucked it up and dealt with it. I was pretty sure that Nathanial feeding me so much also contributed somewhat to the expansion of my bump over the past month. I'd somehow gone from having a fairly flat stomach and defined muscles to having what I thought was the biggest bump I'd ever seen. I was quickly losing sight of my toes, and I'd slowed down considerably. God only knows how big I'll be by the time 40 weeks comes around. Everyone kept telling me I looked good, that I was glowing, that pregnancy suited me. I didn't agree, but I didn't argue with them, because I needed them to make me feel somewhat good about myself. I needed them to keep seducing me and making me feel wanted, because without it I would have refused any of their advances and that would have been bad. The ardeur had grown in need with each growing centimetre of my stomach. At four months I was up to at least three feedings a day, usually more, and it was ever increasing.

Other than the increased amount of sex, food, sickness, attention and peeing, nothing had changed and nothing had happened. It had been a quiet month overall, and for that I think we were all eternally grateful. We could only hope that it would continue for a while.

Our lives had been complicated enough before all of this, god only knows what the children would do to us.


End file.
